Pension transfer volumes through the Origo Transfer Service which accounts for around 95% of all DC pension transfers in the UK, and so is an effective indicator of market trends, have been steadily rising over the past year, up 26.6% for the 12 month period to the end of Q1 2024.
Overall average pension transfer times on the other hand have been coming down. The Origo Transfer Index data for the same period shows that overall average pension transfer times have improved by 10.2% from April 23, reducing from 13.7 calendar days to 12.3 calendar days. Simpler transfers are completed even faster, down from 11.7 to just 10 calendars days.
Commenting, Anthony Rafferty, CEO, Origo, says: “Our rolling 12 month volumes show a clear upward trend in the number of transfers occurring, as the industry has picked up the pace post pandemic and as more companies have automated their processes.
“It is encouraging also to see that even as volumes have gone up over the past year, overall average transfer times have been decreasing. We want to see average transfer times come down even further and we will work with providers to help achieve that.
“Where we see delays and slow transfers in the market, they are more often with outlier companies, typically where operations still have a large element of manual processing involved.
“As processes to request and execute a transfer become ever more efficient, it will be increasingly important for all companies to have in place the technology to handle greater volumes at speed, not just for commercial reasons but to align with the focus of the Consumer Duty rules.”
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