The two-hour sessions, which took place in 21 venues throughout October, November and December, were presented by the Group’s in-house pensions technical team in conjunction with Scottish Widows.
Over the past three months, The SimplyBiz Group has provided face-to-face support and training on DB transfers to over 1400 of its member firms at a series of pension masterclasses.
The two-hour sessions, which took place in 21 venues throughout October, November and December, were presented by the Group’s in-house pensions technical team in conjunction with Scottish Widows.
Gary Kershaw, compliance director of The SimplyBiz Group, said: “The FCA has stated that it encourages all advice firms to attend training on DB pension transfers, and I’m proud that The SimplyBiz Group has led the field in proactively developing and delivering our pension masterclasses.Feedback from the events has been extremely positive, and we know that they have proved hugely beneficial to advisers.
“The pension masterclasses are an important part of the wide ranging support we offer members around DB transfers, which also includes regular bulletins and updates, use of our popular pensions technical helpdesk and access to a panel of DB pension specialist firms for those advisers who are not able to, or choose not to, conduct DB business.”
The pensions masterclasses form part of a 300 strong face-to-face events programme delivered by The SimplyBiz Group.
Kershaw added: “As you would expect, DB transfer enquiries currently make up a significant proportion of the 3000 plus calls our pensions technical team handle every month, so we knew these pensions masterclasses would prove extremely valuable to the firms we serve.
“The implementation of pension freedom changed the advisory landscape and it is vital for firms to understand not only the regulatory requirements surrounding this area, but more importantly, how to fully assess the options and course of action most suitable for clients.
