Tag Archives: governance

“Transaction cost disclosure in Workplace Pensions” – #FCA

  Most people now have a DC workplace pension and if you haven’t got one you’re either very lucky (as you’re accruing a defined benefit) or one of the 6m marginal employees who are reckoned to be “entitled”, “non-eligible” or … Continue reading

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Allardyce- a fan’s eye’s view.

“Money corrupts and wads corrupt absolutely” – anonymous football fan – last night.   I heard about Sam Allardyce’s departure from the England Manager’s job while watching Cambridge United beat Yeovil Town in a Tuesday night league 2 fixture at … Continue reading

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Don’t be passive; just because your tracking

  Most of us have our pensions invested in passive funds. I use a passive grammatical structure because we do not choose , our funds are chosen by others, hopefully with our best interests in mind. So the best we … Continue reading

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The soft underbelly of master trusts

  Many master trusts are absolutely rotten – they are not fit for purpose. Lots of advisers are using them as a back door way of bringing in commission, dressed up as high governance charges. The words of Barnett Waddingham’s … Continue reading

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Governance rides a horse called transparency!

My day today is dominated by meetings about governance. I’ll be meeting organisations who want to provide benchmarks for governance, an organisation charged with overseeing the pension pots of millions of us and a regulator who kicked off the shift … Continue reading

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IGCs – a final reckoning

Here is a summary of the IGC reports analysed on this blog. If you want to read my assessments in detail, please use the search engine. I have segmented the blogs as you can see. It may be unfair to … Continue reading

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How IGCs help employers (and their advisers)

  If you read the terms of reference or Chair reports of the IGCs (and GAAs) , it’s the “member” on whom the work is focussed and for whom the reports are written. “Member” is short-hand for policy holder as in … Continue reading

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Not drinking the Kool-Aid – The Virgin Money Stakeholder IGC

Remember Stakeholder Pensions? Virgin Money do! In fact Virgin were one of the great enthusiasts for Stakeholder Pensions, sadly their ambitions were never quite realised commercially but it’s good to see that Virgin continue to treat their Stakeholders fairly and … Continue reading

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Reassured? The ReAssure IGC is working for you!

Many financial institutions harboured hopes of becoming workplace  pension providers only to fall by the wayside, close their doors and pull up the drawbridge on new business. The personal pension policyholders were not transferred to be looked after by progressive organisations … Continue reading

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How can IGCs engage people with their pensions?

There are three measures by which I am judging the IGC Chair reports Do they speak with a proper tone of voice Do they show themselves effective in dealing with the provider they are governing Have they properly addressed whether … Continue reading

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