A complaint from Legal & General has resulted in real time quotes becoming a 'real possibility'.
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) is working to resolve problems on annuity advice it provides on its website.
Industry complaints have resulted in the regulator embarking on an overhaul of the service, FT Adviser reports. Tim Gosden, an annuities specialist at Legal & General, initially contacted the regulator last year over concerns that some of the information was outdated.
The changes come at a time in which annuity rates are falling, putting extra pressure on people due to retire this year. Overall, rates offered by annuity providers are thought to have retreated by around ten percent since last July, with recent policy moves from the Bank of England including the £75 billion quantitative easing programme anticipated to worsen matters still further for retirees.
With this tightening market, the need to get accurate guidance has therefore become still stronger among people looking to convert their retirement savings into an annuity.
Speaking to the news source, Mr Gosden indicated that real-time annuity rates could soon be provided by the FSA. David Whitely, consumer communications press officer of the FSA, added: "At the moment we are looking at making some improvements to the annuity tables.
"One of the options we are looking at is including postcode rated products and there are a few other things we are looking at but I could not really be more specific at this point because we are in the middle of testing whether we can make them work."
Meanwhile, proposals included in last week's Budget could result in the FSA's site expanding into financial advice, Citywire reports. The regulator currently only provides information and education for customers, rather than active guidance.
Martyn Bamford, an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA), said that he was sceptical about the plan. "As IFAs fund the FSA it would be a bit strange for them to become a competitor in that respect ... [I] would be very keen to see the finer detail on the new service and how it is going to be expanded," he said.
