STAR, the industry award scheme designed to combat delays in electronic transfer times, has awarded its second year of accreditations, with the number of companies receiving accreditation doubling from last year.
STAR was established as a voluntary initiative by the industry to address the issues in several areas in completing transfers in a timely manner. Transfers are often taking several weeks, sometimes even months, to finalise, which can be a major source of frustration for people trying to access their savings, investments, and pensions.
The categories of accreditation are: ISA and GIA, Personal Pensions, SIPP and SSAS, Occupational Pensions, Asset Managers.
There are 77 organisations participating in STAR with 27 brands currently accredited, up 50% on 2022 (see table below).
Due to the complexity of the transfer process involving multiple entities and regulatory jurisdictions, the industry recognised the need for a collaborative effort to address the issue. STAR was established by two independent and not-for-profit organisations, Criterion and TeX.
The STAR initiative rewards good transfer performance with bronze, silver and gold accreditations. STAR accreditation is designed to measure and accredit transfer performance across the sector and encourage improved performance.
The FCA’s Dear CEO letters of Feb 2023 on Consumer Duty, they outlined the need for organisations to improve transfer times to fulfil the new rules. The FCA commenting said: “Improving transfer times is critical in improving consumers’ ability to shop around and switch to a platform that better meets their needs. The FCA is supportive of the progress STAR has made to date, which aims to bring down transfer times. Reducing transfer times remains a priority for the FCA.”
Andrew Marker, STAR Chair says: “With the introduction of the new Consumer Duty rules by the FCA, organisations must step up and take action to meet these requirements. Through STAR, we are driving positive change and creating a better experience for consumers. Joining STAR demonstrates a firm’s commitment towards achieving favourable customer outcomes, ensuring prompt investment transfers, and being able to substantiate it with an accreditation. Therefore, we urge all companies who are not currently involved with STAR to become a part of it.”
STAR says the accreditations are based on several factors. One area of good performance does not outweigh the poor performance in another. It is a balanced approach and awards are thoroughly checked before they are given to an organisation. STAR accreditations are measured on a range of Key Performance Indicators not only on the overall transfer time, as there are also a lot of mitigating factors to consider when reviewing the overall performance of an organisation.
STAR concluded that the best way to fairly judge an organisation was to set up a point based metric system with an organisation being scored on several key areas such as:
• The average number of days to transfer a customer’s assets
• How they communicate with their customers on that journey
Accredited companies:
