Ros Altmann lined up to become Tory peer if Conservatives win election
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Version 0 of 1. Ros Altmann, the pensions expert and former adviser to Tony Blair, is to become a Conservative peer with a view to getting the job of minister for consumer protection if David Cameron wins the election. The campaigner, who has been a director of Saga and the coalition’s business champion for older workers, will be nominated by Cameron to be made a baroness. Part of her new role for the Conservatives would be carrying out a review of financial fairness for consumers, including the idea of capping fees on pension products, better rights for older consumers in the mortgage market and developing the Pension Wise advice service. She said: “David Cameron and George Osborne have offered me the opportunity to become a minister with responsibility for financial consumer protection and financial education. “Following on from the pensions and savings reforms introduced in the past year, I know how important it will be to ensure that customers are treated fairly by the large financial companies. “I also believe it is vital to roll out financial education to everyone, not just those nearing the end of their working life, as well as checking that all fees and charges are fair and clear.” As chancellor, Osborne has overseen one of the biggest shakeups to pensions in a generation by allowing older people to access their pension pots more freely and removing the need for them to buy annuities. Labour backs the principles of the shakeup but has cautioned that there needs to be sufficient guidance. Endorsing the reforms, Altmann said they have “proved to me that the Conservatives really do care about all savers, not just the wealthiest”. “They really do seem to want to make long-term savings work for the many, not just the few at the top,” she said. “The wealthiest already had the freedoms and flexibility that are now open to everyone, but of course we now need to ensure financial services firms move with the times and adapt to the new environment.” She added: “The reforms to savings and pensions in the past year have been so exciting. At last, we have had ministers who were willing to stand up to powerful financial firms to break their stranglehold on people’s pension savings.” Cameron said: “What we’re doing is taking the country’s leading expert on pensions, on savings, on financial education, Ros Altmann, and saying that if we’re re-elected, she’ll be at the heart of government.” The Conservatives’ rivals may question why the party is jumping the gun and announcing a potential appointment before the election has even happened. However, the announcement may be an attempt to neutralise worries about Osborne’s latest pension reforms amid concerns that the Pension Wise advice service is not adequately equipped to cope with the volume of inquiries. The Conservatives insist it has enough resources, with capacity to deal with 400,000 face-to-face appointments within the next 12 months, but experts have warned that some older people could be at risk from unscrupulous fraudsters who might persuade them to invest their money in scams. At the same time as announcing Altmann’s appointment, the Tories also unveiled new pledges to reform the banking system. A new Conservative government would seek to bring more competition to high street banking by urging regulators to fast track 15 new banking licences, Osborne said on Friday night. The chancellor said he wanted to encourage “more entrants and more innovation” in the next parliament should his party be given another term in office. He said the Bank of England Prudential Regulation Authority already had at least 15 new banking licences under consideration that were expected to get the green light. Osborne said he also wanted to make account switching easier and bring greater transparency to charges and fees applied to mortgage loans and foreign exchange transactions. “We will ask the Financial Conduct Authority to ensure that nobody uses misleading terms such as ‘free’ and ‘0% commission’ when fees are hidden in the rates being charged,” he said. The Conservatives have come under fire during the election campaign for doing too much to help wealthy bankers and hedge fund managers, who have enjoyed huge bonuses during the economic recovery of the last two years. It is understood the proposals are an attempt to deflect this criticism by introducing more competition into financial services. |