Financial advisers are being forced to turn away clients who want to transfer out of final salary-style pensions as they can no longer obtain adequate insurance cover, a leading professional body has claimed.
The Personal Finance Society said the soaring cost of premiums and restrictions on the level of cover meant advisory firms could be “pushed into bankruptcy by a single compensation claim” from a client in future.
“The number of advisers [prepared to advise on a transfer] are reducing daily,” said Keith Richards, chief executive of the Personal Finance Society (PFS), adding that this was “l(fā)imiting the public’s ability” to transfer out of defined benefit pensions.