On the go: The £507.5m Church of Scotland pension schemes, comprising the scheme for ministers and overseas missionaries, the scheme for staff and the scheme for ministry development staff, have appointed XPS Pensions Group as their actuarial and investment adviser.
XPS will provide actuarial and investment advice to all three defined benefit pension schemes, as the trustees were looking to harmonise their advisers by seeking one company that could advise on both actuarial and investment aspects in a joined-up way.
Graeme Caughey, chair of trustees of the schemes, said: “The Church of Scotland is delighted to appoint XPS as actuarial and investment adviser. This will serve the schemes well in their next phase, now that all schemes and sections are fully funded on a prudent actuarial basis.”
Alasdair Gill, partner and head of XPS Investment in Scotland, also said that the company would be working with the trustees and their in-house administration team to help them further strengthen their already strong funding position, and help navigate the new regulations due to come into force under the Pension Schemes Act 2021.
Elsewhere, according to the Church of Scotland’s annual report, the schemes have introduced investments to an adept strategy fund and diversified growth fund over the year to December 31 2020. There are now 0.1 per cent and 5.3 per cent allocations to these asset classes, respectively.
Meanwhile, the schemes’ combined exposure to UK government fixed interest bonds decreased by 5.4 percentage points, to 35.3 per cent from 40.7 per cent over 2020.
This article originally appeared on MandateWire.com
