Pension News Stakeholder Pensions Slammed

Written by Editorial Team

19 August 2004

Simplified stakeholder pensions will not be able to plug the country’s £27 billion annual savings gap, according to new research.

The market analyst Datamonitor says the low-cost pension and savings products would fail to appeal to their target market of people on low incomes.

Rather, it feels, the products will cause consumers to put the brakes on their spending habits.

Likewise the new products have been criticised for failing to stir up excitement, with many product providers saying they will see little or no impact from sales.

“Whilst IFAs might not be expected to fully embrace the new set of products, of more concern is the lack of enthusiasm from larger insurers, banks and building societies that are expected to be the core manufacturers and distributors,” says the author of the report Janette Weir.

The research found 60 per cent of IFAs did not think the products would have much impact, while half do not plan to sell them.

A further 15 per cent of life insurers thought they would have a negative impact.