Norwich Union have blamed the weak stock market whilst increasing their 'with profits' exit penalties to 8%, affecting regular and single premium pension policyholders. The penalty was previously 6.5%.
David Riddington, senior actuary at NU said that this move was influenced by the volatile market. He added that if markets improved, NU would act positively but if they got worse they would have no option but to make further increases.
So, those of you with Norwich Union with profits policies who are considering transferring your funds elsewhere - BEWARE - you could incur an 8% charge for doing so.
As a final thought, Equitable Life have recently increased their penalties to 20%.