Savers are paying out up to 80p in charges for every £1 they invest in some pension funds, despite fees being set at less than 1.5% a year, research has indicated.
A worker who paid £200 a month into one of HSBC's pension funds for 40 years would contribute a total of £120,000 once tax relief was included, but the bank would take back £99,900 of this in fees, according to BBC1's Panorama.
The programme said HSBC is not alone in levying charges which represent more than half of the contributions people would make to their pensions.
It warned that its research would cause alarm among consumers, who are increasingly being left to shoulder the risks associated with pension investing themselves.
Malcolm McLean, a pensions consultant, said the problem with the charges is caused by a lack of transparency when pensions are sold.
He told Panorama that, while an annual charge of 1.5% may not sound a large amount, it builds up each year as the fund gets bigger and the amount taken out in fees grows accordingly.
He said: "You suddenly find that, after 30 or 40 years, there's a terrific amount of money lost and I don't think many people actually understood that when perhaps they took out the pension."
But HSBC was quick to defend the charges, pointing out that under the scenario used by Panorama, which assumed 7% annual growth, the pension fund would be worth £374,600 on retirement after all fees had been deducted.
It added that the annual management charge on its World Selection Pension is set at 1.25%, while the total expense ratio, which includes all fees and charges, is only 1.88% a year. It said it typically makes a profit of £15 a year on each pension.
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An HSBC spokesman said: "Our World Selection Pension offers good value for money and is certainly not one of the most expensive pension schemes in the market."
