Speaking to Corporate Adviser, Altmann, who will be given a ministerial role in the event that the Conservative Party forms the next government, said her planned wide-ranging review of retail financial services could go beyond analysing the operation of the market and ultimately lead to redress being ordered against providers to compensate people who had bought inappropriate annuities.
Altmann, who was formerly an adviser to 10 Downing Street when Labour prime minister Tony Blair was in power, was last month named as a future financial consumer protection and education minister, a newly created post, in the event that the Conservative Party leads the next government. She will become a Conservative peer whether or not David Cameron remains prime minister.
Altmann will also develop Pension Wise to offer financial education and guidance to working people, not just retirees, and look at how older consumers’ rights, especially in the mortgage market, can be improved.
Asked whether her review could increase the likelihood of fines or compensation being paid by providers, Altmann said: “There is that possibility. I would like to look at both the way annuities have been sold, their cost, fairness and transparency of purchase and whether there has been any consumer detriment.
“I want to carry out a proper review of the way consumers are treated by the financial services industry. I would look at the way the FCA has been regulating the market, and if that were to lead to them doing more to uncover problems that have existed, then so be it.”
