20 Firms on Options but turn-round stays at 11 days
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Open market option transfer times using the Association of British Insurers’ Options system stayed at 11 days in the first quarter of this year and have shown no improvement for four consecutive quarters.
But pension transfer times using the scheme fell from 11 to 10 days between Q4 2009 and Q1 2010. The ABI recorded an average Omo transfer time of 11 days in Q2, Q3 and Q4 of 2009.
Hargreaves Lansdown pensions analyst Nigel Callaghan says: “Given some of the new companies joining, it is pretty encouraging that the turnround time is 11 days. But with annuity rates sliding, even this delay could cost investors, so it does need speeding up.”
ABI director of life and savings Maggie Craig says Options has handled major rises in volume and providers with ease.
Abbey Life and Windsor Life joined the Omo service in April and Scottish Life joined in July, bringing the total number of providers to 20.
Abbey was among the providers to go live for pension transfers along with Friends Provident, Axa and Nucleus. Options was extended to occupational defined-contribution scheme transfers in June.
Over 14,000 Omo transfers were completed through Options in Q1 2010, up by 53 per cent on the same period last year. The ABI says 36 per cent of transfers were completed in less than seven days and 47 per cent in less than 14 days.
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