It's been a long time coming, but with A-Day fast approaching the pension term assurance (PTA) marke...
It's been a long time coming, but with A-Day fast approaching the pension term assurance (PTA) market is starting to hot up as providers begin to drip-feed the industry details of their product solutions.
The advent of the pensions changes does bring a host of business opportunities for the sector, but while there has been much excitement in the industry about what 6 April means to the protection market, there has also been a great deal of hesitancy.
Many providers have been expressing a keen interest in the PTA market for some time, but they are also treading carefully when it comes to releasing finite plans about their intentions. The reason for this is clear. No one knows what anyone else is doing and nobody wants to get it wrong.
Advisers, too, are in a similar boat. While the opportunity to do more business is appealing, it seems some advisers are not in any hurry to grapple with PTA products.
Instead, many advisers are waiting for the calm that will follow the inevitable storm when insurers vie for premium position in comparison tables and flood the industry with details of final tweaks while still establishing their place in the market.
Waiting until the dust settles does seem wise especially as there will, of course, be the odd 'settling in' hiccup.
Regardless of whether the proclamations are true and the market proves a success, the fact remains that this is a chance for advisers to prove their worth and drive real value into the sales process by showing clients the benefits of advice.
