All Opinion articles – Page 8
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OpinionPension buy outs, how safe are insurers?
The bulk purchase annuity is under pressure to cope with increasing demand. Donald Fleming, partner, covenant assessment at RSM UK looks at the issues facing schemes and what might be best practice for trustees when choosing an insurer.
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OpinionRisk and reward: Just how good is VaR?
Value at Risk (VaR) is used as our main risk measure, but how good is it?
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OpinionTo DC or CDC. That is the question…
DB pensions – and the guaranteed retirement income they bring – are well and truly a thing of the past, with a mere circa 5,000 left in the UK,most of which are closed to new members.
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OpinionPensions and mindfulness: improving outcomes and value for members
Mindfulness has a huge role to play in making the pensions industry more effective, delivering better outcomes and value for scheme members.
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OpinionFor the love of GMPs
Former Editor, Maria Espadinha, now a senior policy advisor at the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association, writes for Pensions Expert
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OpinionLDI crisis confirmed the importance of robust risk management
In the aftermath of last year’s liability-driven investment (LDI) crisis, the need for a more responsible approach to risk management has never been greater.
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OpinionWhy two pairs of eyes are better than one (for DB sponsors)
When it comes to running defined benefit (DB) pension schemes, sponsoring employers have long suffered from increasing complexity, regulatory burden and cost.
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OpinionInvestors must insist on decarbonisation – before it’s too late
The annual business meeting of a company has long been a forum for investors to air their grievances about the direction that a company is taking. That’s why ShareAction went to chemical giant BASF’s AGM last month.
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OpinionTime to review how the UK saves for the future
The latest call from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) for a pensions’ review to tackle the challenge of future generations of pensioners having sufficient income in retirement is timely.
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OpinionCan regulation revive DB schemes?
The Work and Pensions Committee’s call for evidence on defined benefit (DB) pension schemes has now closed, and with a new funding code on the horizon, now is a good time to reflect on what makes a successful DB scheme.
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OpinionSmall schemes face big decisions amid growing cost pressures
The small defined benefit pension scheme universe – typically those schemes with fewer than 100 members – has always faced unique pressures and opportunities.
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OpinionKey themes in the regulator’s new EDI guidance
Equality, diversity and inclusion has become a consistent area of focus for pension schemes and remains a key priority for the Pensions Regulator, with further guidance being published in late March for both governing bodies and employers.
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OpinionDB pensions: Only 5 years left?
So it is not exactly five years, but 5.3 years to be precise. That is what Barnett Waddingham’s DB End Gauge index tells us is the average time for defined benefit pension schemes to be able to buy out their liabilities as at February 28 2023.
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OpinionFAS members still waiting for pensions justice
Twenty-first birthday parties are something to celebrate, unless they mark a tragic event, such as the one that befell the members of the Allied Steel and Wire pension scheme when their employer went bust in 2002.
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Opinion‘Why aren’t we on TikTok?’
In a recent meeting, a fantastic trustee chair asked, half-jokingly: “Why aren’t we on TikTok?” For some in the industry the knee-jerk answer involves the demographics and level of detail required.
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OpinionThe great pensions dashboard reset
The pensions dashboards project is an ambitious attempt to enable savers to be able to find all of the schemes of which they are a member.
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OpinionAlmost two decades on: The evolution of the PPF
The story of how the Pension Protection Fund was established in 2005, and how we have evolved since has been covered by Pensions Expert over the best part of the past two decades. So now seems like an apt time to reflect on how our story began, how far we have come since, and to look to the future.
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OpinionWe must make investing more open and inclusive for women
Auto-enrolment is expanding to capture more UK workers, but research from The Investing and Saving Alliance shows that the different needs of women get lost in translation into the language of investment savings.
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OpinionPlenty of work for schemes to do, despite dashboards delay
The latest data from the Pensions Regulator shows that there are 28,360 defined contribution schemes with £87.5bn worth of assets.
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OpinionTalking to members about savings and the cost of living crisis
The fact that members’ pension savings are intangible is a challenge at the best of times. At the worst of times, when the costs of basic goods and services are skyrocketing, pension savings seem ever more ethereal to a member who is struggling to heat their home or feed their family.