Category Archives: governance

ISIO’s insightful report on professional trustees in 2024

Posted on May 29, 2024 by henry tapper

ISIO’s latest survey on the state of the Professional Trustee market makes fascinating reading and Mike Smedley’s frank  assessment of the results made for a good use of time. You can watch a rerun of the event from this video. … Continue reading →

Posted in governance, pensions | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Our best shot at pension simplification in a generation!

Posted on August 6, 2020 by henry tapper

It’s an interesting time right now for those involved in DC regulation. This blog suggests that if we can find a single definition of value for money that is acceptable to TPR and FCA, then we can massively simplify DC … Continue reading →

Posted in advice gap, governance, pensions | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

The G in ESG is vital to pensions and our pensions governance vital to ESG

Posted on July 6, 2020 by henry tapper

  Sarah Wilson, chief executive of Minerva, the shareholder adviser, said: “At a time when innovation and [research and development] is so important it would seem that financial engineering is taking a higher priority.” – Financial Times  Employers looking for … Continue reading →

Posted in ESG, governance, pensions | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

By their fruits ye shall know them.

Posted on April 23, 2020 by henry tapper

    Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.  A good tree cannot … Continue reading →

Posted in advice gap, age wage, ESG, FCA, governance, investment, pensions | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

No more reports – nobody reads!

Posted on April 14, 2020 by henry tapper

Baroness Bennett, Stedman-Scott and Altmann – getting things done   Every year occupational pensions schemes are required to publish reports that nobody reads. Clearly this is unsatisfactory and we could go two ways Stop writing the reports (would anyone notice?) … Continue reading →

Posted in advice gap, age wage, dc pensions, governance, Guidance, pensions | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

What does SJP “sacking” Woodford mean?

Posted on June 7, 2019 by henry tapper

“HL removed Woodford from its Wealth 50 but did not force sell the funds as SJP has.” But this shows a fundamental misunderstanding of how SJP (costly restricted funds) and HL (costly self-select platform) work! https://t.co/6eQoSKNK0T — Alistair Cunningham (@Cunningham_UK) … Continue reading →

Posted in FCA, governance, pensions | Tagged , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Con Keating questions the value of “limited liability”.

Posted on May 29, 2019 by henry tapper

It’s been a while since this blog has featured Con’s incisive thinking. This article calls into question the capacity of shareholders to have their returns and have someone eat the risk. There’s a lot of easy talk about the “governance” … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiduciary Management, governance, pensions | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Five things that surprised me at the LawDeb Debate

Posted on May 21, 2019 by henry tapper

And the results are in at the #LawDebDebate. An indicative vote versus the final result show a dramatic swing following the speakers taking to the stage pic.twitter.com/1EK1uxs9s6 — Law Debenture (@law_debenture) 20 May 2019   I didn’t go to my … Continue reading →

Posted in governance, pensions | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

“In an advised world – do workplace pensions need trustees”.

Posted on April 28, 2019 by henry tapper

The quote is taken from a recent interview of Steve Webb of Royal London. It is a critical question which deserves an answer. The Workplace Pension Governance landscape (is changing) Something very odd is happening in DC Governance, something that … Continue reading →

Posted in First Actuarial, governance, pensions | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

ReAssuring us through its IGC?

Posted on April 12, 2019 by henry tapper

A word on padding The first thing you notice about the ReAssure IGC report is stock images. Page one and two are entirely devoted to them, page three and four have one, page five has five and page six is … Continue reading →

Posted in governance, IGC, pensions | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments