There has been a breakthrough on pension statement transparency, according to the Consumers' Association of Ireland.

Last year the association expressed concern that annual statements sent to members of defined contribution occupational pension schemes could be grossly misleading.

This was because there was no legal requirement for statements to confirm the realisable value to the scheme member, that is the amount of money that would be available in the event of leaving employment as a transfer value.

The Occupational Pension Schemes (Disclosure of Information) Regulations 2000 was signed into law some weeks ago and a critical part of this disclosure regime will be the compulsory production of transfer values on annual statements. They will also have to show whether the transfer value is guaranteed.