All Opinion articles – Page 17
-
OpinionPractising what you preach – ESG in DC
Data crunch: Responsible investing has become one of the most talked about topics among trustees, asset managers, consultants and other influencers in the UK pensions space.
-
OpinionUK avoids Australia’s Covid-19 pensions trap
What can we learn from how governments around the world have responded to the coronavirus pandemic?
-
OpinionThe dawn of continuous governance
As far as pension trusteeship is concerned, ‘continuous governance’ is exactly as the name would suggest: the constant oversight and continuous monitoring of all the working parts that make up an occupational pension scheme.
-
OpinionThe new normal: should pension firms return to the office?
Four months of remote working and the pensions industry is planning for the new normal. Questions are being asked up and down the corridors of power. When will our employees get back to office? How will we ensure social distancing? What do we do about real estate utilisation when employee density may have to be reduced?
-
OpinionDB to DC transfers: time for trustees to do more?
For many people, giving up a guaranteed income for life will not be in their best financial interests, and yet record numbers are transferring their benefits out of defined benefit schemes and into defined contribution. Is it time for trustees to do more to help members?
-
OpinionCost data collection – is it all worth it?
Data crunch: Cost data collection is valuable even just as source of analysis, such as this series of articles. But how should schemes actually use their own data?
-
OpinionLords’ open DB protections don't stack up
Editor's blog: Are we to see the decline of defined benefit put on hold? That is the vision of amendments to the pension schemes bill moved at the end of June by the House of Lords.
-
OpinionIGCs let savers down with impunity
In an earlier column for Pensions Expert, I asked whether independent governance committees were up to the job of looking after the interests of millions of workplace pension savers.
-
OpinionPension funds face a dilemma if negative rates materialise
The spectre of negative rates is not a new one for trustees of UK pension funds. Real interest rates, which are returns adjusted for inflation and represent growth or loss in purchasing power, have long been mired well below zero.
-
OpinionHow fiduciary management performance should really be assessed
Recently, there has been much discussion around the performance of the growth assets of fiduciary management clients, with this data being used by some to compare the effectiveness of fiduciary managers.
-
OpinionTPR’s superfund green light is only the start
The Pensions Regulator’s new interim regime for superfunds has sounded that starting gun for commercial defined benefit consolidation, but there are still significant hurdles to be overcome, write Rosalind Connor and Aneliese Sweeney of Arc Pensions Law.
-
OpinionWhat role does culture play in value for money?
Data crunch: I have previously stated that not all managers are equally willing or able to give data, and some are better in both attitude and application than others.
-
OpinionWhat we can learn from Chile’s pension system
Under the Pinochet dictatorship, Chile experienced a rapid and controversial series of economic reforms, which sought to create a purist free-market economy on the Chicago School model.
-
OpinionThe £1bn myth: how scheme-level costs change with size
Building scale in pensions is a commonly cited goal by policymakers. The logic that bigger schemes incur lower costs makes logical sense, but is not often tested in practice.
-
OpinionWhy we are taking action to ensure a safe DB consolidator market
Amid the current turmoil and uncertainty in the pensions world – indeed all of the world – there is some good news this week as the Pensions Regulator introduces its interim regulatory regime for superfund vehicles.
-
OpinionUpside down: why trustees should be wary of unexpected outperformance
I would be willing to bet that most investors, particularly pension scheme trustees, wish they had spent more time looking at their true risk exposures before 2020.
-
OpinionDoes paying more deliver more performance?
You get what you pay for, right? As far as fund management is concerned, this old adage does not quite ring true, although as ever there are some caveats.
-
OpinionInsolvency bill leaves huge questions on interactions with DB schemes
Last month, the government published the corporate insolvency and governance bill, which has been described as the most far-reaching reform to UK insolvency law in the past 30 years.
-
OpinionEconomies of scale: do they exist?
Data crunch: Does size matter? Many fund products come with tiered fee structures, leading to the mantra that the larger the mandate, the lower the unit cost.
-
Opinion
Putting flesh on the bones of the new NHS life assurance scheme
On April 27 the government announced a temporary “new guarantee” on death benefits for frontline health and care staff in England whose deaths are caused by coronavirus.