HM Treasury News Release

131/98                                                4 August 1998
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              PRESSURE CONTINUES ON PENSION FIRMS

Pressure will be maintained on pension firms to deal with past
pensions mis-selling cases and there will be no hiding place for
pension firms and IFAs, Economic Secretary Patricia Hewitt said
today.

The Minister was speaking during a visit to the Financial
Services Authority (FSA) where she met the staff in the Helpline
Unit who deal with enquiries from the public who may have been
mis-sold a personal pension.

She said:

     "Tremendous progress has been made, and a few firms now
     appear to have met their targets for resolving priority
     cases. They have passed a major milestone. But work remains
     to be done in honouring offers of redress and in meeting
     the challenges of the second phase of the pensions review.
     I intend to maintain pressure on all firms and will
     continue to publish monthly statistics."

Ms Hewitt singled out some of the independent financial advisers
(IFA's) for failing to get to grips with sorting out their
priority cases. The Minister said:

     "I am deeply concerned at the gap that exists between the
     best and the rest. A few - particularly some firms of
     independent financial advisers - have scarcely started.
     Many of them are still struggling to make adequate progress
     with their priority reviews let alone face up to the task
     which Phase 2 of the review will present.

     "Firms big and small will not be allowed to bury their
     heads in the sand. They have been warned that failure to
     act means disciplinary action - and today's announcement of
     further fines on small IFAs by the PIA makes clear that the
     message applies just as much to small IFAs as to the big
     life companies."

The Minister also challenged those IFAs who were critical of
being invited to a meeting at the Treasury to discuss pensions
mis-selling. She said:

     "I challenge those firms, who have been claiming they are
     beyond reproach, to provide hard statistics to back up
     their claim.   They should provide them in a form which is
     directly comparable with the performance statistics we have
     published since last summer.   Then we can all  make up our
     own minds how these firms are progressing."

Turning to Phase 2 of the pensions review, the Minister said :

     "No one should be left in any doubt that young or old, if
     you were mis-sold a pension, your case can and will be
     dealt with. Now the way forward is clear, it is up to firms
     to prepare themselves for the campaign that begins early
     next year."

NOTES TO EDITORS

1.   A copy of the PIA news release on today's disciplinary
     action is available by phoning 0171 676 3262.

2.   If you have access to the Internet, you can find this news
     release and other Treasury material at http:\\www.hm-
     treasury.gov.uk.


# = pounds sterling