Aegon joins open market group Pica
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Money Marketing revealed in July that MGM Advantage, Living Time, Partnership Assurance, LV= and Canada Life had teamed up with Hargreaves Lansdown head of pensions research Tom McPhail and Bluefin Group corporate consulting managing director David Tildesley to lobby for a greater range of retirement planning options.
Pica is working on a white paper to try to influence the agendas of the major political parties before next year's general election. This manifesto is set to launch next month.
McPhail is the group's acting chairman, with a permanent chairman to be announced shortly. It is understood that former Aegon Scottish Equitable director of pensions development Stewart Ritchie, who retired last year, was approached to take on the role but declined.
Other product providers, advisers and trade and consumer bodies will also be invited to take part in an advisory capacity.
McPhail says: "We certainly feel that Aegon brings an extra dimension to the management committee because of its very high profile and broad interest in retirement areas and products. With the market as it is today, the emergence of personal accounts and the increasing focus on defined contribution pensions, greater uptake of choice at retirement has never been more important."
Aegon head of pensions development Rachel Vahey says: "We believe many more people approaching retirement should be aware of their options to ensure people are accessing the most suitable products."
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Readers' comments (1)
Anonymous | 18 Sep 2009 7:35 pm
Aegon joins open market group Pica
How can Aegon put their weight behind this when they said in July they were setting up a company to market their own annuity products direct through their affinity partners such as the Telegraph?
They need to decide which camp they are in
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