Consumer group Fairer Finance has pledged its support for the STAR initiative, designed to improve the outcomes for individuals wishing to transfer assets such as pensions and investments.
Since its launch in November 2018, STAR has gained significant traction with over 40 firms and organisations showing their commitment to shaping industry-wide standards to promote good practice in transfers.
In order to improve transfers STAR is defining the processes required to complete a transfer; it will also specify good practice targets for each of those processes, and measure, recognise and accredit performance excellence across the industry.
Fairer Finance, which was founded in 2014 by consumer champion James Daley to represent the customer’s voice in financial services, said STAR was an important move for the industry.
James Daley, managing director, Fairer Finance, said: “This is about the industry doing things better for their customers and through STAR, the industry has the opportunity to demonstrate its commitment to improving customer outcomes, in advance of the regulator’s consultation due in winter 2019.
“Some customers still have to wait for pension schemes to write out a cheque and post it to complete a transfer, which in this day and age, is hard to fathom. With reports of transfers regularly taking several months to complete, yet banking being subject to a 7-day switching guarantee, it should be no surprise that the FCA has taken a keen interest in resolving the issue for consumers.”
Tom McPhail, chair of the STAR Steering Committee (pictured), added: “We are delighted that Fairer Finance is supporting the STAR initiative. It’s vitally important to us that we continue to focus on the customer, and it will really help that we can harness the expertise of James and his team. We are pleased with wide-ranging and extensive industry support we have received and continue to receive, which will help galvanise the industry to forge ahead with change and to improve things for customers.”
