Transferring from European Civil Service pension scheme

ptolemy

Dear All,
I worked for the European Commission for several years. I saved into the civil service pension scheme. I was forced to transfer the actuarial equivalent to a private pension scheme when I left the service because I had less than 10 years service. The Commission insists that the PPS 'obeys' 4 conditions:
i. the capital will not be repaid;
ii. a monthly income will be paid from age 60 at the earliest, and age 65 at the latest;
iii. provisions are included for reversion or survivors' pensions;
iv) transfer to another insurance company or
other fund will be authorised only if such fund
fulfils the conditions laid down in points (i), (ii) and (iii).

Any scheme which obeys these rules is acceptable to them, however, they produce a list of firms which have made themselves known to the Commission. There are no UK firms in this list. Most charge high fees etc. I initally went with a Belgium firm (underwritten by AXA [?]) however the capital growth is quite poor. So, now living back in the U.K. I would like to transfer to a UK scheme where I have more control. Ideally I would like a SIPP, or be able to buy my own funds as with my workplace pension - but I doubt whether there are many schemes which are flexible enough to abide by the commission's rules? Do I have any options in the UK?

Cheers

xylophone

Is this an overseas pension scheme?

http://www.legalandgeneral.com/library/pensions/technical-information/Transfers_from_Overseas.pdf Does this help at all?

http://www.pic-europe.com/private-individuals/pension-transfer.html
Might the above be able to advise or suggest where you might look?

ptolemy

Hi,
Thanks for the response.

Yes, it is considered an overseas pension and yes I have gone through the documents such as the legal and general one, however, when it comes down to it the problems are:
1. Not all pension organisations want to do transfers from abroad - Royal London, for example, which is where my work pension is, say they will not do it - so who will?
2. There are the additional requirements over and above the 'standard' ones, and I don't want to have to write to every organisation asking if they would do this - as I suspect that most, if not all, won't.

Yes, I have been to an IFA but they wanted megabucks and a review of my financial circumstances before they would even consider doing anything - I would prefer not to go down that route - I simply want to move my fund to somewhere where I have more control, without being financially penalised (more than necessary).

Cheers

ptolemy

Having said that, I read the consultant's page in more detail and see that they are offering advice on European Commission transfers - I will see what they have to say, but again, if they charge a lot then it wouldn't be worthwhile going down this route - I shall see.

But thanks for the link.