UK watchdog says found no major issues with enhanced annuities

LONDON, Oct (Shenzhen: 000069.SZ - news) 14 (Reuters) - Britain's financial watchdog said on Friday it found no widespread failures by insurers to give customers in poorer health enough information about the pensions they were buying.

The Financial Conduct Authority conducted a "thematic review" or sector-wide study of how firms were selling so-called enhanced annuities.

Annuities are a form of pension that pays out until death, but people in poor health are typically eligible for higher payouts as they are more likely to die earlier.

"The FCA found... no evidence of an industry-wide or systemic failure to provide customers with sufficient information about enhanced annuities through non-advised sales," the watchdog said in a statement.

"At a small number of firms the FCA did have concerns when significant communications took place orally - normally over the phone - which was likely to have caused some customers to purchase a standard annuity when they may have been eligible for an enhanced product."

(Reporting by Huw Jones)