However, the FCA has told the Financial Services Consumer Panel (FSCP) that it will consider the issue as part of its general annuity market review.

The FT reports the FSCP made the call after a surge of execution only online annuity sites opened for business in recent months.

The encouragement of shopping around for an annuity has resulted in the launch of several comparison sites. The sites give retirees access to annuities without having to use an adviser.

The FT said the panel, which is appointed by the FCA to advise it on policy, was concerned that “non-advice” sites – which charge commission not up-front fees – were not transparent enough.

Panel member Debbie Harrison said: “By ‘non-advice’ I mean the annuity websites that offer a great deal of information for ‘free’ and help guide customers to the right decision, but nevertheless, under the regulation, are execution-only.

“This means that they are commission-based. People want to go DIY to save money, but in some cases commission can be 3 per cent or higher, so they may pay more than had they got advice. And they won’t find out about this commission which comes off their pension fund, until they are well into the online sales process,” she told the Financial Times.