12th March 2013

Aviva: New report: Rethinking Retirement in the UK 2013

As one of the UK’s largest pensions and retirement provider, we don’t just want to be market leaders - we want to lead the retirement market. That’s why, in our latest Rethinking Retirement in the UK report, we set out key changes that we believe will help the next generation of retirees plan the best retirement they can.

One such change is improving consumer protection, and we’re leading the way by introducing:

·         Annuity Value Protection – if a customer dies within 90 days of buying their annuity, and any dependant named on the policy dies before them, we will return their annuity premium to their estate (minus any payments already made). Unfortunately Value Protection is not currently available in the Isle of Man and Channel Islands.

·         A one year guarantee on our annuities as standard – if the customer dies in the first year of the policy, we will continue to make annuity payments to their dependants or estate for the rest of the first year.

We believe these steps will increase trust and confidence in annuities. And for advisers, talking about guarantees with clients can help to widen the discussion beyond rates, allowing you to demonstrate your expertise and value.

Rethinking Retirement in the UK also calls for automatic underwriting for annuities, clear costs for advised and non-advised annuity sales, and more ways to help customers fund retirement.

For more, read the report in full.

Retirement