The pension industry should act now to end liberation vehicles and apply stricter rules to stop people being persuaded by fraudsters to access their retirement savings early, Aviva has warned today
John Lawson, Aviva's head of policy, said action needed 'to be taken now to stop pension liberation "at source" rather than at the point where providers are being inundated with transfer requests'.
The firm said that it expects to stop around 600 fraudulent cases with a value of £14m in the UK, by the end of the year, while the combined insurance industry could stop around £150m.
Lawson welcomed the HM Revenue & Customs' decision to operate a more robust scheme registration process, involving individual vetting of all applications for registration.
He said it was a step in the right direction, but more needed to be done.
'Fraudsters are not going to stop when they see an opportunity, so it's essential that we make it impossible to operate,' he said.
Aviva offered some practical tips to the wider pension industry. They included the need for: a more rigorous registration process; the appointment of independent trustees to all trust-based schemes; strengthening the overseas transfer regime; and providers being able to delay transfers indefinitely.
