The FSA, or Financial Services Authority is an independent body which is dedicated to regulating financial services industries in the United Kingdom. They are responsible for a number of different areas of regulatory practice, from investigations and rule-making to making sure those rules are enforced. Basically the FSA is around to make sure that financial services companies behave in a responsible and ethical way.

After the troubles of recent years, the importance of the FSA is all the more appreciated. While the FSA is responsible for a whole realm of financial services industries, it is responsible as part of this for keeping an eye on insurance companies and annuity providers. And they release FSA annuity rates on a regular basis, so that you can know what the baseline should be.

FSA annuity rates are an important part of keeping annuity providers honest, but FSA annuity rates are also a good tool for you to use to get an idea of what rates are available and how competitive they may or may not be. This is a huge advantage because there is an absolute wealth of information about various annuity providers and the rates that they offer. It can therefore be a bit difficult to find your way through all of the information.

However, with FSA annuity rates, you have an excellent and trustworthy guide to what you should be able to expect from your annuity provider. The FSA is working on your behalf. It was this organisation for example which enforced a ruling which permitted people to choose the annuity provider they wanted, rather than just sticking with the annuity offered by their current insurance company. It was also the FSA that made sure that insurance companies send you information about your options before you are due to retire.

It can be difficult in all of the jargon and all of the numeracy to find your way clear to a decent understanding of what annuities are and how they work. Without this understanding it is even more difficult to find an annuity rate that will help you get through the financial difficulties that retirement poses. This is why the FSA was set up, to help you make financial decisions, and to regulate the companies that you will have to turn to. So if you are looking into annuities and the rates seem a bit unreliable, the FSA has a breakdown of FSA annuity rates, which can definitely help you.