All Consultants articles – Page 5
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Features
Pension deficit red flags could shake shareholder confidence
Data crunch: Companies with large defined benefit pension deficits risk seeing their share price drop as investors stay away, after equity analysts raised questions over whether their pension plans need urgent topping up.
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Opinion
The end is nigh for DB pensions
In 2001, I returned from a year working in Canada to a UK pensions industry that seemed to be changing rapidly.
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Features
The clear cost of investment
Obscuring investment costs is becoming a risky game for the asset management industry, and Dr Chris Sier knows it.
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News
CMA takes final step in reform of fid man and consultancy sectors
On the go: The Competition and Markets Authority has issued a legally binding order requiring investment consultants and fiduciary managers to provide clearer information about what their customers are getting for their money.
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News
Fiduciary managers struggle in 2018’s testing markets
On the go: Fiduciary managers significantly undershot their targets in 2018, with underperformance ranging from 6 per cent to more than 11 per cent, according to the first XPS FM Watch report.
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News
Aon ends takeover talks with Willis Towers Watson
On the go: Insurance brokerage and consulting giant Aon has pulled out of takeover talks for rival Willis Towers Watson.
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News
Aon mulling offer for Willis Towers Watson
On the go: Insurance brokerage and consulting giant Aon is reportedly preparing to submit a bid for rival Willis Towers Watson, in a move that would send shockwaves through the pensions advisory industry.
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News
Mercer Marsh Benefits unifies in the UK
On the go: Mercer Marsh Benefits has regrouped its UK and benefits teams under the MMB brand. The restructure follows the acquisition of Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group by Marsh & McLennan, the parent company.
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News
Trustees urged to hold investment advisers to account on ESG issues
On the go: Trustees should hold investment consultants to account on environmental, social and governance issues, the Association of Member Nominated Trustees and the UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association have argued.
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News
CMA upholds competition judgment on consultants and fid mans
On the go: The Competition and Markets Authority has published its final report into investment consultancy and fiduciary management, maintaining its finding of an adverse effect on competition in both sectors.
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News
CMA ups pressure on trustees and advisers to seek best deal
New requirements on trustees to shop around for fiduciary management and challenge their advisers will generate better value for members, experts have said in response to measures set out by the Competition and Markets Authority.
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Opinion
How to take a proactive approach to decision-making
Proactive decision-making is a function of a pension plan’s governance framework, the knowledge of the individual trustees and the quality of the advice they receive from their advisers.
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Features
Investment consultants could be under microscope for next decade
Analysis: Investment consultants may have escaped the more stringent of the recommendations in the Competition and Markets Authority’s provisional decision earlier this year, but experts have said that the scrutiny of the market is unlikely to end at Christmas.
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Opinion
What mandatory tendering will mean for your scheme
The Competition and Markets Authority launched an investigation into the investment consultancy and fiduciary management services used by UK pension schemes in September 2017 and identified some issues that impact competition in these markets.
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News
62% of schemes and sponsors say CMA could go further
Sixty-two per cent of trustees and employers believe the Competition and Markets Authority has not gone far enough in its recommendations for the investment consulting and fiduciary management market, according to an XPS Pensions survey.
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Opinion
Industry must help small schemes keep up with standards push
Trustees are coming under increased scrutiny from the Pensions Regulator as it tries to improve standards. Many assume small schemes will come under the most pressure. While small schemes are not implicitly run with any less care or diligence than their larger peers, there are often important differences in what tools providers make available to smaller schemes.
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Opinion
Financial wellbeing means stepping beyond pensions
From the blog: It is fair to say employers have been thinking about financial wellbeing for years – even before auto-enrolment most offered a workplace pension, and perhaps some other monetary protection benefits, such as life assurance or income protection.
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Opinion
CMA investigation: Less talk, more action required
Proposals made by the Competition and Markets Authority to improve investment consultancy and fiduciary management were more evolutionary than revolutionary, and most participants are in broad support of them.
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News
Mercer parent's JLT acquisition brings consulting giants under one roof
On the go: Marsh & McLennan, the insurance broker and consultancy that owns Mercer, has announced it is to buy Jardine Lloyd Thompson for $5.6bn (£4.3bn) in cash.
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Opinion
Schemes must not let consultants hide behind advice excuse
We all know that trustees should assess the performance and value for money provided by their investment consultants – the real question is how to achieve this.