NEWS

SELF INVESTED PERSONAL PENSION - FOCUS ON REGULATION

THE REGULATION OF SELF INVESTED PENSION SCHEMES

That Self Invested Pension Schemes have remained unregulated for so long probably comes as a surprise to many.

The Financial Services Authority has set in motion a reversal of this independent stance by making the activity of establishing, operating and/or winding up a Self Invested Personal Pension Schemes (SIPPS) an activity that needs to be authorised by the FSA for the first time.

As a regulated firm we had assumed (after legal consultation) that we would continue more or less in the same vein. How wrong we were! In fact we were required to vary the permission for David Booler & Co and obtain full registration for David Booler SIPP Trustees Limited. I am pleased to confirm that, in spite of the ‘log-jam’ in the FSA’s Offices, our approvals came through in plenty of time.

For those of you who are current SIPP Focus members you will have already received a detailed description of how the various tasks associated with your pension scheme will be carried out, jointly between David Booler SIPP Trustees Limited and David Booler & Co. Hopefully the changes will be seamless.

The latest figures from the FSA show that in total throughout the British Isles only 135 firms have successfully been granted Registered status, with circa 20 or so operating on interim permission whilst caught up in the FSA’s backlog.

What is not known at this stage is how many former SIPPS providers have decided not to apply for registration. Continuing to operate a SIPP on this basis after 6 April 2007 will be illegal and it is possible that individuals will find themselves with an arrangement which they believe to be perfectly legitimate but actually unregulated. You can check the position of a firm’s regulated status via the FSA register at www.fsa.gov.uk/register.

The Future

For those of you who have their pension arrangements in Small Self Administered Pension Schemes (SSAS), so far the FSA has resisted the temptation to bring them into the auspices of regulation, but surely it can only be a matter of time. We will of course keep matters under review.

If you are unsure of how these changes affect you, please contact our offices and we will be happy to explain matters further.