Emma Douglas – at the PLSA
I’ve enjoyed listening to Emma Douglas on the Daren and Nico pensions show.
Increasingly I’m drifting away from the world of DC workplace pensions but Emma is a genuine enthusiast and here she shows determination not to get sucked into the doom and gloom that surrounds most of the DC discussions I am hearing at the moment.
The insured master trusts, Aviva included, should have a spring in their step. The market recovery since late 2022 has pushed Aviva MT’s assets over £10bn and though Aviva don’t have to worry too much about not getting the AE reforms, pension dashboards or any of the quiescent consultations on pot for life, CDC, decumulation or value for money. The big brands just roll along picking up healthy contributions from their blue-chip clients and confining innovation to non-contentious savings arrangements such as the recently announced scheme for Boult cab drivers.
Aviva will continue to be a dependable middle of the road provider with strong governance, ESG credentials and a consumer brand that has been pretty resilient.
Where she gets passionate is on price, in particular the importance of price on master trust decision making. Where she bared her teeth was to condemn a plan to unbundle admin and investment fee disclosure.I’m sure she’s right to point out that such disclosures will be gamed but is this worth getting worked up about?
I’m happy enough with this. Emma’s strength has always been in bringing people together and she is the rock around which Threadneedle’s, Mercer’s, BlackRock’s , L&G’s and now Aviva’s DC propositions have been built.
Her work for the PLSA is similarly consensual. But the skill she shows in navigating the podcast shows how she has mastered winning the consensus! She really has won it all , without ever having to risk getting a yellow card!
I would of course like to see Aviva and the PLSA step up to the plate on the big issues that trouble consumers but there is only so much disruption we can stand and Aviva and the PLSA , under Emma Douglas , are doing for workplace pensions exactly what Emma Douglas does best – keeping everyone sweet.
You can listen to Emma, Darren and Nico chatting away from this link