NAPF: Pension providers must push retirees towards advice

The Association of British Insurers (ABI) must force pension providers to push retirees towards specialist annuity advice, the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) has said.

The NAPF was responding to an ABI consultation launched in December on creating a voluntary code of conduct for insurers to improve retirees' access to the open market option (OMO).

The ABI had proposed to create a code in which insurers no longer sent annuity quotes unsolicited to investors, and better explained the shopping around process.

However, in its response published today, the NAPF said the code must, at a minimum, give scheme members a list of "specialist annuity brokers" when providing shopping around information, including brokers which will deal with small pots.

Ideally, providers should actively route their customers straight to an annuity advice and brokerage service themselves, the NAPF said.

The response to the ABI's consultation came after the NAPF published a report over the weekend which suggested if the industry fails to improve OMO access the government must step in and create a nationalised annuity brokerage.