IFP corporate member Aegon has urged the FCA to keep pensions outside of new incoming EU regulations under MiFID II rules.
The FCA has a duty to implement EU MiFID II Markets in Financial Instruments Directive requirements in the UK. It must decide how it puts the requirements into effect and also whether to extend these regulations to a wider set of products.

Aegon argued that domestic laws and regulations already offered unique protections for UK pension savers. Bosses said that with the EU referendum a certainty, it would be the wrong time "to be gold plating EU regulations".

The UK pensions market has "distinctive features and unique consumer protection measures", Aegon said.

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The firm was responding to the FCA proposals for implementing MiFID II. The FCA has sought industry views on applying equivalent rules to pensions for consistency.

While the full MiFID II requirements are still to be finalised at EU level, the FCA is seeking early view before it consults more fully later in the year.

Steven Cameron, regulatory strategy director, at Aegon said: "In view of the existing safeguards, we see no reason for the FCA to 'gold plate' rules around allowing individuals to purchase pensions without advice, particularly with an in / out EU referendum looming. In our opinion, consumers don't need more layers of regulation, even if that means we don't have full consistency between MiFID and non-MiFID products.

"We would be particularly concerned if the FCA applied the concept of complex products to pensions.

"This could mean consumers might not be able to join certain pension schemes or invest in certain funds deemed complex unless they received advice or had been through an appropriateness test to assess their knowledge and understanding.

"This could create huge problems if any default funds used for auto-enrolment were classed as complex, perhaps because their investments allowed the use of derivatives."

He said the FCA had "very helpfully differentiated the actions it's required to take to implement MiFID II".

He added: "We're pleased the FCA has already ruled out reflecting EU rules around disclosure to pensions at this stage.

"Here, the key should be designing relevant communications which encourage UK savers to engage with their retirement planning."