A finance firm's chief executive believes the Budget reforms have genuinely unlocked customers' interest in their pensions for the first time and expects to see a rejuvenation in people seeking broader retirement advice.

Jamie Smith Thompson, chief executive at Portal Financial, has told Financial Planner Magazine he sees "a genuine revolution in the way people are responding to the real options with which they have been presented".

He said: "The Budget and Queen's Speech, perhaps for the first time, have succeeded in unlocking people's interest in their pensions.
"Traditionally, we have seen 750 potential drawdown clients per month, with an average retirement pot of just £53,000.
"Over the last month (May/June) the figure was over 1,000. The fact that customers at this level are turning to advice, and not just execution only, suggests that the message is now getting through to the majority of the population rather than just the privileged few with the six-figure pots."

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He said the Budget has given the intermediary sector a new line of business and ongoing opportunities.
He said: "We expect to see a rejuvenation of people seeking broader retirement advice and not just the 'at retirement' decision.
"Professional financial advice will once again feature in conversations regarding the wider pension opportunities as potential clients have been empowered to think harder about their new and exciting options.
"In short, alongside genuinely revolutionary reforms come increased opportunities for advisers who can apply a different mindset and embrace innovation and new ways of managing clients."
He added: "No longer will they (intermediaries) be accused of cherry picking their customers which continues to be the populist media's opinion.
"But importantly in a post-RDR world, nor should they be solely dependent on the highly sought after High Net Worth end of the market."