FCA tells providers to look into annuity sales since 2008

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is asking annuity providers to look into their non-advised sales going back to 2008 to see if consumers missed out on higher income by buying the wrong type of annuity.

In a review of sales practices accompanying its retirement market income study, published this morning, the regulator has stopped short of demanding a full review of past business for the last six years, at this stage. But it said it wants providers to "gather more evidence, on a statistically significant basis, to determine whether customers with certain medical conditions or lifestyle factors missed out on a higher income in retirement". The FCA thinks some consumers may have missed out by purchasing a standard annuity, rather than an enhanced product, or by not shopping around for ...