It does feel as if the scandal regarding British Steel pension transfers will dog the industry for some time to come.
Money Marketing takes a detailed look at the situation regarding British Steel pension transferees’ compensation as legal and technical rows rumble on.
The British Steel Action Group (BSAG) has particular concerns about the scoring of 65 files called “Group 2” by the FCA in terms of suitability.
The regulator scored 28 of these as “unsuitable”, but the BSAG suggests a lower number — 15 — in that category and asked independent industry experts to review them.
The output of these re-reviews reversed the “unsuitable” assessment to “suitable” or “unclear”.
FS Legal partner Gareth Fatchett said the FCA had not disclosed information about the tools, methods and processes used to assess suitability.
The FCA has defended its processes and its assessment.
Elsewhere, FTAdviser has done its own long read looking at the impact of gilt yields on pensions. An important subject for advisers.
Meanwhile the FCA has criticised 15 advice firms which it says are making unsolicited compensation offers to British Steel transferees which could see them lose their access to the redress scheme.
Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey says that powerful downward forces will tame inflation with the rate of price rises expected to fall below 5% this year.
An interesting view in Corporate Adviser. Mark Waters at Mercer Marsh Benefits and Colin Fitzgerald, distribution director at Legal & General Group Protection observe that employers are considering cutting benefits to direct to wage rises, but they counsel against such actions.
They write: “Evidence from the 2008 recession, with regards to the impact of cutting benefits, suggests this might only lead to a negative impact on employee satisfaction and, in turn, performance and retention.”
One stat to watch. Compared to the same quarter in 2021, mortgage possession claims are up 23% to 3,160.
Mortgage strategy reports that mortgage orders for possession were up 50% to 2,482, warrants issued are up 88% to 2,112 and repossessions are up 134% to 733 in the last quarter of 2022 compared with Q4 2021, figures from the Ministry of Justice show.
