CPD: Stephanie Hawthorne reports on the complexities of divestment as the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues with no sign of peace on the horizon.

The Society of Pension Professionals’ new president, Steve Hitchiner, has demanded greater focus on outcomes for defined contribution scheme members.

Aegon and LCP have issued stern rebukes of the Financial Reporting Council’s proposals for calculating pensions projections for the dashboards, with Aegon arguing that the FRC’s preferred methodology would “damage the whole intention behind dashboards”.

This week – Annuities make a slow comeback, trustees complain TPR’s new single code is causing them anxiety, regulators decide there should be a ‘consistent and structured’ approach to value for money, and a judge invokes a precedent from 1843 in a lawsuit against the USS.

Billions of assets purchased by insurers to back UK retirement promises have the potential to drive corporate progress on issues such as climate change, and pension fund trustees are now indicating a willingness to pay extra for better stewardship.

On the go: The civil service and related public sector areas are set to vote on industrial action over pay, pensions and redundancy terms this autumn. 

More than six in 10 FTSE 350 defined benefit scheme sponsors have reported a pensions accounting surplus as at the end of 2021, while the aggregate surplus has almost doubled in the past months.

Uncertainty over the forthcoming changes in the Pensions Regulator’s new single code of practice is causing anxiety among trustees, as they expect it to have a huge impact on their time and resources.