Monthly Archives: April 2017
The Grand National – a race of not taking yourself too seriously!
Thanks to Aintree, a course that has not drunk the Cheltenham Kool-Aid, not sold its soul to corporate hospitality and kept a little sense of humour! The final day of the Grand National Meeting was characterised by brilliant weather. Stella … Continue reading
Confusion reigns at the Royal London IGC
In general IGC reports and press releases don’t mix. We’ve had two reports which have been advertised to the press and both fail to impress me. We are not asking IGCs to sell their workplace pensions, or even themselves, we’re … Continue reading
Diversity – (my part in “his” downfall)!
If “lack of diversity” is the problem, I’m part of it! Like the eight panellists at the pension sessions of Sage Summit I was male, pale, grey and stale! Apologies (to our regulators Charles Counsell and Neil Esslemont, to Standard Life’s … Continue reading
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Tagged #Sagesummit, Diversity, employers, Payroll, pensions, Sage, Technology
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Aviva’s IGC report – a great leap forward
Aviva has quietly become the most important insurance company operating in the workplace pension market. While others have pulled in their horns, Aviva has remained committed to auto-enrolment and now features in every search we conduct for new pension providers. … Continue reading
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Tagged Aviva, great leap forward, IGC, legacy, pensions, policyholder, Value for Money
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“Income follows member” – how we enrol people with lots of small jobs.
It’s strange how little we know about people with lots of jobs. But thinking about my friends, many have multiple sources of income from multiple employers. At one-end, of the spectrum there are people who have a portfolio of Non … Continue reading
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Tagged auto enrolment, net-pay, Payroll, pensions, relief at source, Sage, Sage Summit
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FT seminar sparks pension transfer fury!
Last night the FT put on a seminar on final salary pension or – more exactly – how to slip the noose of a pension for life for pension freedoms. FT journos have been willy-waggling their new found pensions wealth … Continue reading
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Do league tables work?
There’s hardly anywhere in public life that isn’t benchmarked by a league table. Hospitals and schools are the obvious ones but “comparators”, “benchmarks” and “measurable” are the watchwords for our decision making. This is not the case in … Continue reading
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“No one gets left behind” – the Abbey Life IGC
If you are reading the Chair’s IGC report for Abbey Life you are a rare beast Over 7,000,000 people have joined workplace pensions as a result of auto-enrolment, only 10,150 souls remain in Abbey, Target and Hill Samuel workplace plans This time … Continue reading
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Taper tantrums
Not my phrase – Jo Cumbo’s. Read her brilliant article on the travails of our super-earners who struggle to cram enough money into their pensions. The annual allowance taper can see a £40,000 pa annual contribution allowance diminish to … Continue reading
Fund cost disclosure, arrived on Friday – and it’s here to stay. L&G IGC report- 2017
We are now well in to the IGC reporting season, where Independent Governance Committees tell us how well the insurers they oversee are behaving. I had had low expectations going into this round, 11 of the key insurers had spent … Continue reading