Asset managers 'should be subject' to retirement income regulation

Asset managers should have to abide by similar regulation to annuity providers if they are to get involved in the retirement income market, argues the Financial Inclusion Centre.

Speaking at the Retirement Review conference, the centre's director Mick McAteer said regulation was necessary but could increase costs. "If asset managers think they are going to get into this market in a big way then they will need to be subject to prudential regulation in the same ways as annuity providers are," he said. "This will put costs up even more and make it even more difficult to reach the mass market." McAteer (pictured) added asset managers would find it challenging to design products that generate annuity-beating returns over the long term. "The annuity market has...