Adviser caution suggested:
Posted on:
18
Jan
2012
by James Cholmondley Farmer
Suffolk Life, one of the UK’s leading providers and administrators of SIPPs, has issued a timely reminder to advisers on the benefits of independent SIPP wrappers as the issue of platform re-registration heats up.
The current discussion of asset re-registration focuses on adviser charging, and what happens to legacy trail commission after the re-registration. However there is an important issue concerning the large amount of platform funds being held in pension wrappers that has so far been overlooked.
Greg Kingston, Head of Marketing for Suffolk Life, says “The debate around re-registration has focussed on adviser charging, and the FSA has made it clear that re-registration does not have to be an advised event. There is however a sizeable proportion of platform assets held in pension wrappers, and in order to re-register these a pension scheme transfer would need to take place – most definitely an advised event. Moreover, with the drawdown changes introduced last April advisers need to think more carefully how their recommendation may affect their clients as those in receipt of income would automatically be moved to the new drawdown regime with significantly lower income limits available.
Greg continued “Independence has been one of the reasons behind the success of our proposition over the years and it is never more relevant than today. Advisers who choose an independent SIPP wrapper that’s capable of working with multiple platforms and other investment partners will find that they can keep the SIPP they originally recommended should they need to move platform and re-register assets. That lessens the need for an advised process and also protects the client from the consequences a full pension scheme transfer may have.”
Suffolk Life has operational integration with several platform partners, covering over 75% of the platform market, including Ascentric, Cofunds, FundsNetwork, Skandia and Transact, and launched SmartSIPP in June 2011 to specifically cater for this market.
Tags: IFA | pension | sipp
