Protection insurers, pension and bond providers were also rated in the report by Defaqto.
The independent publication aims to provide advisers with insight to help them benchmark their own personal experiences of pension providers, with those of their peers, enabling them to select partners based on service criteria.
For pensions, advisers were asked to rate providers in relation to 6 categories. They ranked them in order of importance as follows:
1. Product and proposition
2. New business servicing
3. Provider strength and brand
4. Existing business and administration
5. Online services
6. Provider staff
This was a complete reversal on the results for 2016’s survey for these two areas, where they were ranked 6th and 5th respectively.
David Cartwright, head of insight and consulting for wealth and protection at Defaqto, said: “It is no surprise that service is one of the key differentiators today. Getting the pension product and proposition right and clearly communicated, along with the purchasing process from providers should be a given and to advisers these are the most important areas. But providers should consider all elements of service and allocate resource where appropriate to avoid dissatisfaction from their customer base and adversely affect the adviser’s product selection.”
Advisers were also asked what type of pensions they had recommended in the last 12 months. The results showed that drawdown products including blended and hybrid drawdown were the most popular, an indication of the general trend away from pure annuity solutions and more towards drawdown or a combination of the two.
Sipps have also grown in recommendations, possibly, at least in part, because of safeguarded benefits being freed up and reinvested for flexible future access.
Product providers were rated Bronze, Silver or Gold based on their overall rating score, with the results shown via Defaqto’s Engage research software for advisers.
A copy of the review can be seen on the firm's website.