Category Archives: corporate governance

In the DC garden, all is not a bed of roses

I’ve been reading the latest report from the Friends Life Workplace Savings Index which you too can  read by pressing this link. The report is powered by DCisions, an organisation that crunches numbers and produces reports on people’s pension investments. I … Continue reading

Posted in annuity, auto-enrolment, Change, corporate governance, dc pensions, de-risking, NEST, pensions | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Pension play pen lunches endorses Kay on corporate governance.

The lunch of April 2nd was attended by 12 of our number, being;- Sarah Hargraves – Pension administrator with Unison Jon Thorne – Secretary to the FRC‘s (Financial Reporting Council) actuarial user committee Anita North – Hewistons Janet Hennessey – Hennessey … Continue reading

Posted in Change, corporate governance, pension playpen, pensions | 2 Comments

SHOULD INVSTORS BE PREPARED TO PAY FOR CORPORATE ENGAGEMENT?

This is the question we’ll be debating at today’s pension play pen lunch. I’m a little daunted . I’ve read Professor John Kay‘s excellent paper about how equities work, should work and why they could work better. He’s in the middle … Continue reading

Posted in Bankers, Change, corporate governance, FSA, happiness, pensions | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Hose down RBS and Coutts before you put them on the forecourt.

There is a Coutts cash point in my high street – Eton High Street. It charges other bank’s customers for the privilege of using it. You can do that if you have the banking cachet that Coutts believes it has. Most … Continue reading

Posted in Bankers, Change, corporate governance, customer service, Fred Goodwin, Management, RBS, Retail Distribution Review | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

What have the Australians done for us – not much!

I’ve been asked to talk to some pension people later this month on Supertrusts and what we can learn from the Australian Superannuation System. I have attended a number of lectures on this subject over the past few years, mainly … Continue reading

Posted in auto-enrolment, corporate governance, dc pensions, defined aspiration | Tagged , , , , , , , | 13 Comments

Bill Whitehead’s drawers

I wrote last week about why we need a national register of people’s pension pots (not a clearing house or a system of enforced transfers). Re-reading the post, I can see many people will be asking “what is the issue at … Continue reading

Posted in annuity, auto-enrolment, corporate governance | Tagged , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Search “my pensions”!

Steve Webb is right in reckoning we would value our personal pension saving more if it were in one big pot. He is right that this would make the job of converting pension saving into an income stream for life easier. … Continue reading

Posted in annuity, corporate governance, dc pensions, defined aspiration, FSA, happiness | Tagged , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Whatever happened to “stakeholder economics”?

When Blair swept to power in 1997, Will Hutton‘s vision of a stakeholder economy was central to New Labour‘s vision. While the idealism of those years is now derided, I prefer it to the negativity of today’s commentary. Listening to … Continue reading

Posted in Bankers, corporate governance, Henry Tapper blog, Jersey, pension playpen, pensions, Popcorn Pensions, Retirement | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

The language that we use

This from the normally readable Booznews This year’s fact-based shopper marketing study, prepared in partnership with Shopper Sciences and the Grocery Manufacturers Association, reveals, among other findings, that leading CPG manufacturers and retailers are increasingly adopting a solutions-based approach to amplify … Continue reading

Posted in corporate governance, Henry Tapper blog, Management | Leave a comment

Define your aspiration.

Last week, the brotherhood  of DB and DC pensions got a little sister when Steve Webb introduced the prospect of DA to the family. There is nothing new about the search for a third way, indeed it is the pensions equivalent of the … Continue reading

Posted in annuity, corporate governance, customer service, dc pensions, de-risking, defined aspiration, EU Solvency II, NEST | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 13 Comments