Another Million Transfers Through Origo

I was surprised to see recent reports that transfers were down in certain parts of the market, as the opposite is true for the Origo Transfer Service.

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In 2022 the service had another successful year, carrying out over a one million pension transfers for the second year running. That’s around ￡42billion transferred for pension holders last year.

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Origo is focused on ensuring consumers get a good outcome when transferring their pension, ISA and GIA assets. We do this by providing an automated, secure transfer service, so when providers are ready to cede the money it can be done so quickly and efficiently.

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The service has seen the overall number of pension transfers increase 34% since 2020. In the same period we’ve seen the number of small pot pension transfers increase by over 40%, a marked increase above that overall figure.

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Within that data, the number of sub ￡10,000 pension pots transfers grew significantly, increasing by 42%. The number of pots under ￡1,000 also was up by 32%. And the number of pots transferred which were under ￡30,000, the threshold beyond which an individual must seek financial advice before a transfer can be made, rose by 39%.

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Recent market performance will have affected pension pot sizes but, while Origo data does not show the reason for a transfer, it would not be unreasonable to suggest from this data that the economic situation in the UK has been playing into whether and when some consumers are accessing their pensions.

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There is a concern here for the industry, as consumers accessing their pensions as short-term fixes to the cost of living crisis may find that when inflation subsides, they have damaged their long term and retirement saving as a result. Pensions are and should always be considered long term savings vehicles. Savers’ future-selves may thank their current-selves for not dipping into their pensions savings at this time.?

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Also, this year we start to move into a new landscape where consumers will be able to access their pension data via pensions dashboards. There is the potential for around 15 million people a year to want to access their pension data. This is an exciting prospect for UK savers, and it is very possible transfer and pension consolidation activity will increase as a result. The automation of pension transfers at scale through a trusted provider will be essential, no matter what size the pension pot.

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Over 150 brands now use the Origo Transfer Service, which handles the vast majority of the industry’s defined contribution pension transfers. This makes the data from the service a reliable measurement of activity in the market and I’d like to think it shows the market is in a more robust shape than other reports might suggest.