Pension stuck in Republic of Ireland

Moira29

I lived in the Republic of Ireland for 12 years
stupidly when I was there I had my old company pension transferred there too
It was easy in 1996 Canada Life just opened an appropriate policy and the money was
transferred in just a few days
Getting it back is another story apparently in 2004 they introduced a policy that
means Companies transferring money have to be MIFID registered
( I thought being in the EU was meant to make these things more simple - apparently not !!)

I think I have found a list of MIFID registered companies but the only one I recognise is AVIVA
and they have a fine against them for mishandling funds ( not a great advert

Has anyone has any dealings like this can anyone advise what I can do ?

I wanted to get it back before the pound rockets or the bottom falls out of the euro

Help Please

xylophone

Do you mean that you had a defined benefits pension with your employer and you transferred it to a S32 with Canada Life?

dunstonh

( I thought being in the EU was meant to make these things more simple - apparently not !!)

EU has nothing to do with it.

I think I have found a list of MIFID registered companies but the only one I recognise is AVIVA

MIFID is a directive. It is not a registration or authorisation. It stands for Markets in Financial Instruments Directive

and they have a fine against them for mishandling funds ( not a great advert

If that is your criteria for elimination then you have probably eliminated every company. The FCA fines companies left, right and centre. Whoops you sneezed. No-one is worse off or going to be out of pocket because of that but here is a million pound fine.

Moira29

Thank you for responding

It was a pension I had paid into for 15 years for one company
and I transferred it to what was s similar one at Canada Life
in Ireland i;m not sure what an S32 is

thank you

Moira29

“
( I thought being in the EU was meant to make these things more simple - apparently not !!)
”EU has nothing to do with it.

I was told by the Financial adviser I spoke to that this was an EU Directive raised to stop money laundering


“
I think I have found a list of MIFID registered companies but the only one I recognise is AVIVA
”MIFID is a directive. It is not a registration or authorisation. It stands for Markets in Financial Instruments Directive

This is not what I was told - and indeed there is a list of MIFID registered Companies as I stated - just that I don't know who they are

“
and they have a fine against them for mishandling funds ( not a great advert
”If that is your criteria for elimination then you have probably eliminated every company. The FCA fines companies left, right and centre. Whoops you sneezed. No-one is worse off or going to be out of pocket because of that but here is a million pound fine.

I wasnt aware that all Financial advisers had fines against them
I'm not sure if you're trying to be helpful or not - I am simply stating the facts as I have been told by Irish Life who now holds my policy ( they bought out Canada Life ) and the financial adviser I first contacted who is not MIFID registered and therefore could not help me

If you have anything useful to say I would be pleased to hear it
thank you

xylophone

When you mention transferring an old company pension to Canada Life, do you mean that your old company had a defined benefits pension scheme and you transferred out into a policy with Canada Life as here

http://www.financialadvice.net/s32_buy_out_plan/zone/1288

Or that you had a money purchase pension scheme that you transferred from one insurer to another?

Does the Canada Life Policy have any safeguarded benefits?

Are you wanting to transfer your pension with Canada Life to another insurance company?

Or are you saying that you have reached the age when you can draw on the pension and are finding difficulties with this?

xylophone

I have just seen your reply above - we cross posted.

You are saying that Irish Life now holds your pension policy.

See questions above.

Moira29

thank you xylophone
I looked at the link(ref S32) and it would look as if that is what happened - although it was never explained as this - Irish Life now have the Policy and I want to transfer it back to the UK
It has matured but I don't want to take it yet

The idea was to consolidate all the bits of pension I have and try to invest them for a few years before I need to take them

thank you for your time and trouble

xylophone

Have you been in touch with Irish Life?

What have they offered?

xylophone

You might well need advice from an IFA, possibly one with Pension Transfer Permission.

https://directory.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en

EdSwippet

Moira29 wrote: »

I wanted to get it back before the pound rockets or the bottom falls out of the euro ...

If currency issues are your primary concern, you may be able to defuse them by investing in (say) a FTSE UK All-share tracker fund or ETF(*) within your Irish pension, depending on what funds the pension offers. Buying GBP assets in the pension will effectively peg your result to the GBP, for better or for worse. That way you don't need to transfer the pension itself outside of Ireland (though of course you may still want to, later on, if feasible).

(*) Ideally, for good diversification, you would want more than a single market represented in your pension. Some UK, some EU, some US, and so on. I used FTSE All-share only as an example of how you might sidestep currency issues without a full-on international pension transfer. You don't say what other pensions or investments you're balancing this Irish pension against.