The DC pension transfer market remains buoyant with more than a million transfers completed by the industry’s largest switching service last year.
Origo says this is the second year running that transfers have passed the million mark. This represents 34 per cent increase in transfer activity over the past two years.
In total it transferred over £42bn of pension savings, held with 150 different brands. The average time taken to transfer these funds has remained stable, and averages at 14 days. Origo says that half of all transfers were now carried out in 7 days or less.
However a number of larger master trust providers have significantly slower transfer times. This includes B&CE Financial Services — which runs The People’s Pension — which took on average almost 40 days to transfer a pension last year, and Nest which took over 20 days on average.
The Origo Transfer Service handles the vast majority of the industry’s DC transfers, alongside Isa and general investment account switches.
Data published by Origo highlights which ceding providers have the fastest, and slowest average transfer times. B&CE Financial Services was the slower, taking 39.5 days on average, even for simpler transfer requests. This is followed by LV=, where the average is 36 days then Nest at 21.8 days.
The shortest average ceding times are for NFU Mutual at 6.2 days, MetLife at 6.4 days and Legal & General at 7.9 days.
Origo CEO Anthony Rafferty says: “The Origo Transfer Service has had another very successful year, passing a million transfers once again, and seeing a 34 per cent rise in volumes over the past two years. Reports from other areas of the market that transfers were down has not been reflected in the Origo Transfer Service.
“This year, alongside the focus of the FCA on consumer outcomes through the imminent Consumer Duty rules, we start to move into a new landscape where consumers will be able to access their pension data via pensions dashboards. There is the potential for around 15 million people a year to want to access their pension data and it is very possible transfer and pension consolidation activity will increase as a result. The automation of pension transfers at scale through a trusted provider will be essential.”