Monthly Archives: April 2019

What should you say to your staff about pensions next week?

Posted on April 20, 2019 by

Next  week most staff will see for the first time the impact of their increased pension contributions on their pay. They may ask you, if you are the boss or run payroll or pensions or work in HR, what this … Continue reading →

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Transparency bites the fund industry

Posted on April 19, 2019 by

From top to bottom of  financial intermediation cost disclosure is causing problems. UBS and Goldman Sachs have been fined eye-watering sums for failure to provide the right information for others to disclose to their clients. They are not alone. Those … Continue reading →

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Learning to live and love the FCA

Posted on April 18, 2019 by

The pension map has two views of the world, . One view sees pensions as retirement savings and is governed by the FCA, the other sees retirement savings as pensions and is governed by the Pensions Regulator. It’s as binary … Continue reading →

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Pru’s IGC 2019 report – steady as you go.

Posted on April 17, 2019 by

The main theme of Lawrence Churchill’s fourth Prudential IGC Chair Statement is steady as you go. The IGC got off to a good start in 2015 by picking a value for money benchmark which was outcomes based. I has stuck … Continue reading →

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Making IGCs relevant – FCA’s consultation

Posted on April 16, 2019 by

  The FCA has published a consultation on whether to extend the remit of IGCs to monitor a life company’s engagement with Environmental, Social and Governance issues and to have oversight on the default investment pathways for non-advised drawdown.   … Continue reading →

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Can CDC offer private school pensions?

Posted on April 15, 2019 by

The Department of Education has a cunning plan. Put money behind pensions for teachers in state education and ransome private schools and colleges of higher education for higher pension costs. The policy is justified as an end to a tax-payer … Continue reading →

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St James Place GAA Chair Statement- a must read

Posted on April 14, 2019 by

There aren’t many employers or policyholders that SJP run workplace pensions for, but though they are few, they merit a mini-IGC – known as a Governance Advisory Arrangement (GAA).   The SJP GAA Chair Statement is an excellent document that … Continue reading →

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Are IGCs and Trustees worth it?

Posted on April 14, 2019 by

      The best test of the value of an IGC or an occupational trust board is to imagine how things would work without one. Before 2015, insurers ran workplace pensions for multiple employers using the bald trust of … Continue reading →

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Could pensions yet break state education?

Posted on April 13, 2019 by

The Teachers’ Pension Scheme is one of only eight guaranteed by the Government; provides additional benefits linked to salary; is inflation-proof to offer teachers a secure retirement; and offers the typical teacher around £7,000 in employer contributions every year. This … Continue reading →

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From zero to hero – the Hargreaves Lansdown IGC report

Posted on April 12, 2019 by

Hargreaves Lansdown’s (HL) 2015 -16 IGC report was embarrassingly bad. I got cross that a successful funds platform didn’t put its back into independent governance. Hargreaves’ Vantage product (now HL Workplace Pension)  was at the time being widely promoted as … Continue reading →

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