All Independent Trustee Services articles – Page 2

  • Getty Images
    News

    GMB members accept revised pension offer from Historic Royal Palaces

    2019-03-15T00:00:00Z

    Staff working for Historic Royal Palaces have accepted a revised offer on pension provision, ending months of dispute between the independent charity and the GMB trade union over the closure of their defined benefit scheme.

  • Podcasts

    Podcast: Improving the quality of professional trustees

    2019-03-11T00:00:00Z

    PodcastLast month, the Professional Trustee Standards Working Group published a set of new standards, which all professional trustees will be expected to meet. The group is also due to launch an associated accreditation framework later this year. In this episode of the PE podcast, Rachel Croft, director at Independent Trustee Services, explains what these new standards mean for schemes, how they will improve professional trustee quality, and whether increasing professionalisation and rising workloads could lead to the extinction of the lay trustee. 

  • Features

    Testing times for charity DB pension schemes

    2018-10-25T00:00:00Z

    At the beginning of last year, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds closed its defined benefit pension fund and replaced it with a new defined contribution scheme.

  • Features

    Lambeth invests in multi-asset credit

    2018-10-10T00:00:00Z

    The London Borough of Lambeth Pension Fund has invested around £75m into multi-asset credit from its corporate bonds allocation. It is also weighing up investment in private debt alongside other Local Government Pension Schemes.

  • Podcasts

    Podcast: How should trustees be monitoring their employer covenant?

    2018-09-18T00:00:00Z

    Podcast: Over the last few years, headlines highlighting several high-profile defined benefit pension cases have hammered home the importance of having a strong covenant. Mark Evans, director at Independent Trustee Services, and Adolfo Aponte, director at covenant specialists Lincoln Pensions, explain how trustees can keep tabs on their employer.

  • News

    Transparency worries hinder flows into active quant strategies

    2018-09-17T00:00:00Z

    More than half of institutional investors are wary of using quantitative investment strategies, with a perceived lack of transparency registering at the top of investors’ concerns, according to new research.

  • News

    DB governance: Small schemes fail to keep pace

    2018-09-11T00:00:00Z

    Small defined benefit schemes are still lagging behind their larger counterparts when it comes to governance standards, new research from the Pensions Regulator has shown.

  • News

    BHS successor scheme concludes buyout

    2018-08-13T00:00:00Z

    On the go: The BHS2 pension scheme, which was set up in 2017 after the collapse of department store chain BHS, has completed a buyout with the Pension Insurance Corporation that will cover £800m of liabilities.

  • Opinion

    DC Debate Q2: Deferred annuities, retirement expectations and more

    2018-06-11T00:00:00Z

    Five defined contribution experts talk about deferred annuity products, retirement expectations, and how the industry is adapting to people's changing work patterns.

  • Opinion

    DC Debate Q2: Default retirement pathways, flexibility and guidance

    2018-06-07T00:00:00Z

    Five defined contribution experts discuss default pathways, striking a balance between flexibility and secure income, and the importance of guidance at retirement.

  • Rachel Croft
    Opinion

    Deciding on the size of your trustee board

    2018-06-05T00:00:00Z

    What is the ideal size for a trustee board? This is the most common question I have been asked in more than 18 years of advising trustee boards and their sponsors, and now as a professional trustee myself.

  • Features

    Should schemes become more eurosceptic?

    2018-06-04T00:00:00Z

    Analysis: Trustees may be tempted to act upon the past few weeks’ eurozone headlines, which have detailed sweeping geopolitical change across Italy and Spain and frightened investors in the process.

  • News

    Rate of investment consultant tenders has plummeted, survey finds

    2018-05-18T00:00:00Z

    Less than 3 per cent of pension schemes retendered for investment consulting services last year, compared to 18.6 per cent of schemes in 2008, according to research from selection specialists IC Select. 

  • Fixed income roundtable
    Opinion

    Roundtable: How are fixed income strategies adapting?

    2018-05-11T00:00:00Z

    Central bank policy has turned a major corner, and many fixed income markets are looking increasingly expensive - six experts share their insights on how pension scheme strategies should adapt.

  • Opinion

    Roundtable: How should schemes pick fixed income managers?

    2018-05-09T00:00:00Z

    Fixed income markets do not present as obvious a case for passive management as equities, but how should schemes evaluate manager skill? PGIM’s Edward Farley, Barnett Waddingham’s Sophia Heathcoat, MJ Hudson Allenbridge’s Anthony Fletcher, Independent Trustee Services’ Dinesh Visavadia, Bestrustees’ Graham Wardle and independent trustee Alexandra Martinez discuss.

  • Opinion

    Roundtable: Where does value lie in fixed income markets?

    2018-04-30T00:00:00Z

    In an increasingly uncertain and somewhat expensive environment for fixed income, which products and asset classes represent the best value for pension schemes? PGIM’s Edward Farley, Barnett Waddingham’s Sophia Heathcoat, MJ Hudson Allenbridge’s Anthony Fletcher, Independent Trustee Services’ Dinesh Visavadia, Bestrustees’ Graham Wardle and independent trustee Alexandra Martinez discuss.

  • Opinion

    Roundtable: How can schemes prepare for uncertainty in fixed income?

    2018-04-23T00:00:00Z

    What does the end of an unprecedented era of quantitative easing have in store for interest rates, and how should increasingly mature defined benefit schemes adapt? PGIM’s Edward Farley, Barnett Waddingham’s Sophia Heathcoat, MJ Hudson Allenbridge’s Anthony Fletcher, Independent Trustee Services’ Dinesh Visavadia, Bestrustees’ Graham Wardle and independent trustee Alexandra Martinez discuss.

  • News

    Reuters steps up member comms during sponsor M&A

    2018-03-14T00:00:00Z

    Trustees of the defined benefit schemes of Thomson Reuters have been updating members about the agreed sale of part of the business, as experts stress the fine line between saying too much or too little about a deal.

  • Rachel Croft
    Opinion

    How to oversee a fiduciary manager for your scheme

    2018-03-13T00:00:00Z

    Trustee take-up of fiduciary management services has risen sharply over the past 10 years or so, in response to ever-increasing complexity in the world of investments. 

  • Features

    Can you run your scheme better than a sole trustee?

    2018-02-21T00:00:00Z

    Analysis: Defined benefit trustee boards are finding it increasingly difficult to source a full complement of member-nominated trustees, as final salary becomes a legacy benefit system. Is the rise of the sole corporate trustee inevitable?