Well done to SG enterprises for getting an agenda together than properly addresses some of the key issues we and the Government are facing as the autumn legislative agenda looms.

A week before the King’s Speech, BlackRock are sponsoring an afternoon debate on productive finance. I will be there and I hope that many of my readers will sign up to what looks like being a “productive” afternoon.

Here’s the agenda

Having come to this late , I’m not sure the themes for Productive Finance in DB and LGPS schemes should be quite as advertised. Perhaps they might be better;-

• Can insurers offering annuities claim to be providing productive finance?
• What can be done to keep DB schemes open to investment in productive finance?
• Can small DB schemes realistically get the deals accessible to large schemes?
• Is there a liquidity crunch at LGPS and if so – where and why?
• What allocation to productive finance should be targeted?

As most DB schemes aspire to the atrophy of the insured annuity, we cannot avoid discussing what happens to DB funds once they are bought out.

Are there solvent DB schemes that would like to keep going but don’t have the strength of covenant to do so?

Is there a dividend for larger schemes from better research and greater purchasing clout? If so- where’s the evidence and what does “better and greater” look like?

Debbie Fielder of Clwyd, has recently spoken about the calls on her LGPS Fund for cash? Is she alone – or is there a greater demand for liquidity in LGPS than may have been thought?

Please get in touch if there are matters you’d like discussed that aren’t on the agenda and in particular the group session I’m running.

The link to register at this event is here