Fully electronic pension transfer completes in five days.
This week saw a significant milestone in the world of transfers – a fully electronic pension transfer between Ascentric and Nucleus. Details of the pension wrapper and all the assets within it were moved between the two platforms and the units re-registered with multiple fund managers in just five days with no need for any wet signatures or paper.
The timescales are impressive, but they are not the real headline – electronic SIPP transfers have been happening at speed for some time between a small group of early adopters of the TeX standards. The special feature of this transfer is that it was the first to take place using two different systems – Altus and Origo. Until now, transferring a whole portfolio between platforms has tended to happen in different silos – one for pensions and another one for everything else. Now, it is finally possible for firms to manage the whole process via a single system and, what’s more, they have a choice of suppliers to buy that system from.
Andrew Smith, CTO at Nucleus, commented: “Getting systems to talk to one another is key for reducing transfer times, so it’s great that this is now a reality. This should make advisers more confident about transferring units between platforms, as platform to platform electronic connectivity will reduce transfer times and reduce the likelihood of errors. We’re delighted Altus and Origo have worked together within TeX to make this happen.”
Kevin Okell, Managing Director at Altus, added: “We have long been firm believers that full collaboration between technology vendors could ensure better outcomes for financial services customers, and we are absolutely delighted to see such great results. But the hard work doesn’t stop there, as the industry needs to get ready for conversions, following the FCA’s policy statement issued on Friday.”
