Tag Archives: Liability Driven Investment

Insurers competing for pensions using leverage to boost annuities? Surely not.

The bulk purchase annuity market comes under the scrutiny of the FT this morning. They are reporting what we have heard rumoured but have had no solid evidence of. The insurers say this has nothing to do with the leveraged … Continue reading

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End of the road for LDI?

Thanks to those brave souls who braved “Southern”, the tube strike and filthy weather to attend yesterday’s lunch which asked “has LDI had its day?”. One answer to that question was clear, I learnt that the top performing asset class … Continue reading

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“Ring out the old – ring in the new”- who will be our investment fiduciaries in retirement?

Yesterday I went to the Schroders DC Challenge conference which was all about “delivering value and certainty” to retirement savers. I left enlightened by some interesting debates and one or two talks. I’ll share with you three observations that I … Continue reading

Posted in advice gap, Change, Financial Education, Henry Tapper blog, pensions | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Is the game up for active fund management?

The Department for Communities and Local Government announced yesterday that £85bn of actively managed assets could be transferred to passive management and that the fund of fund structures could be collapsed into a collective investment vehicles. This is very significant … Continue reading

Posted in advice gap, Liability Driven Investment, pension playpen, pensions, Personal Accounts | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

When only a dedicated project manager will do – AE needs new advisers.

Most pension people trying to project manage auto-enrolment have found themselves out of their depth. Whether you are an actuarial consultant or an IFA the issue is the same- you know little about HR processes and less about payroll. Integrating … Continue reading

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Why clever people don’t do jargon

  I think the best actuaries are hard to spot, you wouldn’t know they were actuaries. The same goes for the best investment managers. Last night I had dinner with Eve Finn and a table full of Legal & General … Continue reading

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From old to new – minimising disruption from pension reform

This post puts forward a new paradigm  for 2014 , based on  adjustments to the 2013 mindset. My assumptions are;- We are about to enter a new world where trail commission, active member discounts and higher cost investment defaults play no … Continue reading

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Do employers have a duty of care to their staff when they retire?

If you take the Daily Express, you will have been reading a series of front page headlines about “rip-off pensions”. Here’s this Thursday’s edition http://www.express.co.uk/news/retirement/423869/Millions-hit-by-scandal-of-pensions-rip-off . The argument is based on some recently released figures “A 65-year-old with average pension … Continue reading

Posted in advice gap, annuity, auto-enrolment, brand, club pension, customer service, dc pensions, pensions | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

“Pensions people can trust” – a proper kick in the nuts.

If we could only lift up our eyes from our spreadsheets and do some strategic thinking, we’d be grateful that Labour are trying to clean up our act. Continue reading

Posted in annuity, auto-enrolment, dc pensions, defined aspiration, mallowstreet, pension playpen, pensions, Retail Distribution Review | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

Mothball NEST till 2017

Should we mothball NEST and brush it off in 2017? Maybe a little drastic but we certainly need to scale back the amount it is spending both in events and it its payroll.
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Posted in dc pensions, NEST, pension playpen | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments