The Financial Services Authority is the latest UK body to come out against "pensions transfer" deals, which offer to swap workers' defined benefit entitlements for a one-off lump sum. It has set out a crackdown that it reckons will cost business - and save workers - £20bn.

The FSA's broadside is the latest step in a growing regulatory backlash against the practice, which has become increasingly popular among company finance directors as a way to get a handle on the rising costs of pensions.