Category Archives: corporate governance

Don’t fence me in!

I went to a presentation to a small group of intermediaries given by a major life company last week. The presentation explored how we could adopt social media in our work to help jointly build our businesses and make it … Continue reading

Posted in corporate governance, customer service, First Actuarial, Linkedin, social media, twitter | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Why we need to say “NO” to pension guarantees!

On Monday the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries delivered a paper stating that it would be able to deliver a system of lock-in guarantees at a price of less than 1% pa of the fund that could be used by … Continue reading

Posted in actuaries, annuity, auto-enrolment, Bankers, club pension, corporate governance, customer service, David Pitt-Watson, dc pensions, defined aspiration, EU Solvency II, FSA, happiness, Liability Driven Investment, NEST, pension playpen, pensions, Personal Accounts, Retirement | Tagged , , , , , , , | 15 Comments

What do we mean by good?

Spending time in Liverpool this week has given me the chance of spending time with clients, fellow advisers and those who market the products our clients use. The NAPF Conference is a time when you can look at what you are doing , compare … Continue reading

Posted in actuaries, corporate governance, dc pensions, de-risking, napf, NEST, Payroll, pension playpen, pensions, Popcorn Pensions | Tagged , , , , , , , | 14 Comments

Australian “Super” – not an answer – a new question.

I went to a discussion on the Australian retirement savings system at the invitation of the Australian actuarial group in London (thanks guys). The talk was excellent as were the questions. Being  neither Australian or an actuary it was an eye – opener! Australia … Continue reading

Posted in annuity, Australia, auto-enrolment, corporate governance, pensions, Retirement, The Ashes | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Can we get our business leaders to bother with pensions?

Our business leaders, a unique band of not more than a couple of thousand men (mostly), have not been leading the debate on workplace pensions. While Steve Webb and the DWP have proclaimed auto-enrolment as a transformational event, those charged … Continue reading

Posted in auto-enrolment, CDC, Change, corporate governance, David Pitt-Watson, dc pensions, de-risking, defined aspiration | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Getting CEOs and Chairmen “seriously relaxed” about pensions.

I don’t normally hob nob with FTSE 30  Chairmen so when I met one at a party over the weekend I hit on him about pensions…this is the nub of the conversation Me-What do you know about auto-enrolment? Chairman-My pension person … Continue reading

Posted in auto-enrolment, corporate governance, pensions | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

An amnesty on pension charges is not the answer!

It seem that Aviva are to review the legacy charges on pension charges. Tom Mcphail is calling for a general amnesty on charges that hints that there is currently a “charges war”. There isn’t a charges war Tom, if there was … Continue reading

Posted in actuaries, auto-enrolment, Bankers, Change, corporate governance, customer service, dc pensions, Financial Education, pensions, Popcorn Pensions | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Too important to hide;- why the Government has to investigate pension default charges

LCP, the pensions consultancy, yesterday published its first DC Fees Survey and very good it is too. It confirms what we knew, that the investment fees and charges for some DC funds are not transparent, that they can be as much as 100% … Continue reading

Posted in actuaries, annuity, auto-enrolment, Bankers, Change, corporate governance, customer service, dc pensions, de-risking, happiness, Henry Tapper blog, NEST, pension playpen, pensions, Popcorn Pensions, Treasury | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

“Ambitious” pensions can save you from staging a disaster

Organisations with 500 or more employees have been written to recently by the DWP with a reminder that in 2013 they have to “stage” auto-enrolment. Companies which historically provide and promote pensions to their staff will take all this in their stride But staging … Continue reading

Posted in actuaries, auto-enrolment, corporate governance, dc pensions, defined aspiration, Retirement | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Send in forensic actuaries to sort out these “rip-off” pensions!

Spookily, a couple of hours after I’d published yesterday’s blog about how the DWP had ducked the dodgy question of how to sort out legacy pension charges, Steve Webb, the Pension Minister issued an appeal to the pensions industry to … Continue reading

Posted in actuaries, annuity, auto-enrolment, corporate governance, customer service, dc pensions, Fiduciary Management, Financial Education, leadership, Retirement, Treasury | Tagged , , , , , , , | 18 Comments