Despite pension transfer volumes rising, transfer times have been decreasing, according to new data published by fintech Origo.

Transfer volumes increased 26.6% for the 12 month period to the end of Q1 2024.

Meanwhile, the average pension transfer times improved by 10.2% compared to April 23, reducing from 13.7 calendar days to 12.3 calendar days.

Simpler transfers completed even faster, down from 11.7 to just 10 calendars days.

The data is based on the Origo Transfer Service, which claims to account for around 95% of all DC pension transfers in the UK, making it an indicator of market trends.

Anthony Rafferty, chief executive, Origo, said: “Our rolling 12 month volumes show a clear upward trend in the number of transfers occurring, as the industry has picked up the pace post pandemic and as more companies have automated their processes.”

He said it was encouraging to see overall average transfer times decrease while volumes went up over the past year.

He said: “We want to see average transfer times come down even further and we will work with providers to help achieve that.”

He said delays and slow transfers in the market were more often with outlier companies, typically where operations still have a large element of manual processing involved.

Mr Rafferty said: “As processes to request and execute a transfer become ever more efficient, it will be increasingly important for all companies to have in place the technology to handle greater volumes at speed, not just for commercial reasons but to align with the focus of the Consumer Duty rules.”

Capgemini and Origo have been appointed to supply the central digital architecture for the Pensions Dashboards Programme and are working with the PDP to help deliver the service.