The Pensions Regulator : The role of trustees in DC schemes

13 October 2011 The Pensions Regulator today published a paper on “The role of trustees in DC schemes”. It works rather well in establishing the key differences in trustee duties for DC (asset protection, investment choice, cost structures and contributions) as opposed to DB (payment of benefits and employer covenant). One key requirement is the need to be clear what the nature of the promise to DC beneficiaries is, the consequential duties on trustees and the powers and governance resposibilities that are adopted in the fulfillment of those duties. The paper is short and it is worth reading by all…

Continue reading

DB Pensions – End-September 2011 PPF 7800 deficit

11 October 2011 The Pension Protection Fund produces a monthly index update (the October release has data taken as at 31 September) of the estimated funding position of the DB schemes potentially eligible for entry into the Fund. Total scheme deficits showed an increase from £117.5bn as at end August to £196.4bn as at end September : an almost doubling, though it is inevitable that this figure will be volatile (being the difference between two much bigger numbers: assets vs liabilities). The PPF universe aggregate funding ratio continued to fall from 89.2% to 83.1%. The fall in funding levels has…

Continue reading

Pension Protection Fund : Announces £550m Levy Estimate, Consults on 3 Year Levy Rules

21 September 2011 The Pension Protection Fund has announced that their estimate of total industry levy for 2012/13 is £550m : the lowest levy that the PPF has ever set (by way of comparison, the 2011/12 levy was £600m). Importantly, the PPF has also announced a consultation on proposed new rules to govern the levy framework going forwards. The consultation period expires at 5pm on 2 November 2011 and links to the consultation documents and the news release are provided below. We will be reviewing these and providing our full views on the documents. The adoption of an investment risk…

Continue reading

DB Pensions – End-August 2011 PPF 7800 deficit

13 September 2011 The Pension Protection Fund produces a monthly index update (the September release has data taken as at 31 August) of the estimated funding position of the DB schemes potentially eligible for entry into the Fund. Total scheme deficits showed an increase from £67.3bn as at end July to £117.5bn as at end August. This increase was somewhat smaller than the £60bn increase last month, but nevertheless is not welcome news. The PPF’s universe aggregate funding ratio fell to 89.2% from 93.7%. As we expected, the fall in funding levels has occurred both due to a decrease in…

Continue reading

Conferences and presentations by investment managers

As a regular attender at pension conferences it struck me as interesting that whilst the content of many presentations given by investment managers are good to very good on the technical side : for instance analysis of the macro-economic outlook or an assessment of investment prospects for one asset class : very few address or even touch upon two key areas for pension schemes: broader asset allocation and the investments implications as part of liability management. This lack of focus is particularly strange as attention here could help to build differentiated marketing bridges to trustees and advisers and it’s no…

Continue reading

Tribunal refers pension fund VAT dispute to European Court

30 August 2011 The National Association of Pension Funds has reported (see link below) that the landmark case that they and the Wheels Common Investment Fund are pursuing has been referred to the European Court of Justice. This case is signficant as it focuses on whether defined benefit pension schemes should be required to pay VAT on investment management fees. It’s worth reading the fuller exposition on the NAPF website. External link

Continue reading

  • Author: Martin Veasey
    © www.veaseyassociates.co.uk 2011 – 2024

    Please call or email me for further information on this page or my services.