The Pensions Regulator speech at NAPF : “Setting the scene for DB in 2012”

18 January 2012 Stephen Soper, Executive Director for DB at the Pensions Regulator, gave a significant speech at the NAPF Trustee conference yesterday. He indicated the desire to provide greater clarity regarding expectations of trustee conduct and the regulator’s own case processes and procedures. His speech : published in full on the regulator’s website (a link is provided below) : focused on the following four areas: Current economic climate and funding of schemes (a statement is to be published in April) Non-cash scheme support De-risking and corporate transactions Transparency The speech is well worth reading. External link

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Beware of the FATCA !

17 January 2012 The legislation covering the US Foreign Accounts Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) was drafted in 2010 with the intention of facilitating the identification of US taxpayers having accounts with foreign financial institutions and non-financial foreign entities. Its aim is to promote anti-avoidance by having managers of these entities notify the Inland Revenue Service of the identity of American nationals who are beneficiaries and, in the absence of such notification or a null return, custodians holding US domiciled investments would be required to applying a swingeing 30% withholding levy on payments to that entity.

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DB Pensions – End-December 2011 PPF 7800 deficit

10 January 2012 The Pension Protection Fund produces a monthly index update (the January 2012 release has data taken as at 31 December 2011) of the estimated funding position of the defined benefit schemes potentially eligible for entry into the Fund. Total scheme deficits showed an increase from £222.1bn as at end November to £255.2bn as at end December : an new extreme value for 2011 and in line with the peak value at the height of the 2008/2009 crisis. The asset and liability contributions to this increase moved in different directions, with the strong performance from equity during the…

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Department of Work and Pensions : Meeting Future Workplace Pension Challenges

19 December 2011 The Department of Work and Pensions has launched a consultation on how to treat the proliferation of small pension pots. An individual moving from job to job may easily build up a portfolio of several small entitlements with consequent problems of administration, communication and cost. Their proposed initiatives include: encouraging members to consolidate their pension savings, so reducing the cost of administering small pension pots transferring small pension pots to one or more aggregator schemes transferring pension savings so they follow an individual from job to job The paper also announces the end of short-service refunds for…

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DB Pensions – End-November 2011 PPF 7800 deficit

14 December 2011 The Pension Protection Fund produces a monthly index update (the December release has data taken as at 30 November) of the estimated funding position of the defined benefit schemes potentially eligible for entry into the Fund. Total scheme deficits showed an increase from £158.6bn as at end October to £222.1bn as at end November. This retraced the improvement over last month and established a new extreme for 2011 : aggregate deficit levels are now only just better than the peak level seen in 2009. The reasons for the change were entirely different to the October figures :…

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