Several pensions firms have been warned by the FCA they may be breaking competition law.

The regulator revealed this morning that a review has raised questions over distribution arrangements and strategies.

Some have been put on notice of “potential for infringements of competition law”, officials said.

The FCA has not named the firms that have been sent warning letters, which are similar to that produced by the Competition and Markets Authority. It is the first time the FCA has issued such letters since taking on new powers last April.

This has arisen from part of the Retirement Income market study in which the FCA reviewed a number of distribution arrangements and strategies of different pension providers.

A statement read: “While we did not have competition concerns with the majority of the arrangements we looked at, there were some specific ones that we wanted to understand better and in the report we committed to engaging with a number of firms to obtain further information.

“We contacted the firms, and reviewed a number of distribution agreements and minutes of meetings related to the performance of those agreements. As a result we discovered that some of these meetings appeared to operate without any competition compliance protocol to prevent the disclosure of commercially sensitive information.

“We sent letters to a number of firms putting them on notice of the potential for infringements of competition law. These letters are similar to the Competition and Markets Authority’s practice of sending warning letters and place a responsibility on the recipients to confirm what action they plan to take, and by when, to address the identified concerns. This is the first time we have issued such letters.

“We subsequently met with the firms to further understand the arrangements in question.”

The FCA said as a result of its actions, the firms have undertaken a number of initiatives to strengthen competition compliance including:

• Reviewing and self-assessing the arrangements in question as well as other similar arrangements that they have in place

• Introducing and/or reviewing and updating their competition compliance protocols

• Ensuring that all key staff receive competition law training, and that this is regularly reviewed and updated

The regulator encouraged other firms to review their distribution and marketing arrangements to ensure they comply with competition law.