GBPensions have an overseas alliance which means that we can still assist clients with the transfer of UK Final Salary (aka Defined Benefits or DB) pension schemes of £30,000 or more.
Problems with DB pension transfers of £30,000+ have arisen recently as an inadvertent result of the UK’s new Pensions Freedom rules. Under these guidelines, members of DB pension schemes wishing to move their funds must now seek advice from a financial adviser who is not only authorised by the UK authorities but who also has the appropriate UK pension transfer qualifications. An anomaly in the UK regulatory system means that very few UK advisers are permitted by the UK financial authorities to give such advice – even if they have the appropriate UK qualifications and are willing to do so.
The outcome would be that many of those affected would not be able to transfer their pension schemes, because they would not be able to receive the appropriate UK advice and, therefore, obtain the required, signed certification.
Fortunately, GBPensions have managed to overcome this issue. Tony Chamberlain explains, “In order to be able to always act in our clients’ best interests, we had to get this done. We spent weeks hunting for, talking to and meeting with potential candidates but, even with our longstanding associations in the UK and internationally, we really struggled to find a suitably qualified UK adviser.”
During the search GBPensions found several advisers willing to help, but in several cases their compliance managers and /or PI insurers would not permit it. Others wanted to charge clients an additional NZ$10,000 – thus negating any benefits of transferring a pension.
Date of original blog 21st August 2015. Amended for content 4th July 2016
