IMA welcomes A-Day

IMA WELCOMES A-DAY

Fresh backing has been given to next year's A-Day pension reforms, this time form the Investment Management Association (IMA).

The group's chief executive, Richard Saunders, described the 'A-Day' tax reforms as "an historic opportunity for the fund management industry".

The new regulations are designed to make the pension industry easier to understand, and should come into effect in April 2006.

Speaking at the Financial Services Aunthority's Asset Management Conference, Mr Saunders said: "We are entering a new era where there can be greater competition, new products and real benefits for consumers."

Mr Saunders went on to state that the IMA would be presenting its own recommendations, on delivering low cost individual retirement accounts within the state system, to the Turner Commission later this year.

He added: "IMA [has] put forward its own suggestion for tax reform. In a paper last autumn we put forward the idea of replacing the multitude of different regimes with just one – a single flat tax for savings."

Mr Saunders claimed that IMA's public-private partnership proposal would provide "something that could deliver the benefits of individual investment at significantly lower cost".

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