Previously a Transfer Value Analysis  (TVA) has been the main way to review the change from a DB to DC scheme.

It calculated a critical yield that was needed to produce the same level of benefits that safeguarded pension would have offered.

However the FCA whitepaper (CP17/16) had the following concerns:

• annuities are no longer the default option, with flexi-access drawdown becoming increasingly popular;
• advisers often focus, in some cases exclusively, on the TVA element rather than making a rounded assessment of suitability based on all relevant factors; and
• firms are not properly explaining volatility and the transfer of risks to their

Therefore the whitepaper suggested a new analysis method called appropriate pension transfer analysis or APTA. Part of this process is the use of a prescribed comparator, known as a transfer value comparator or TVC. These rules came into force on 1^st October 2018.