The pensions industry’s reaction to Covid-19 has ushered in an era of professionalism and frequent monitoring that should arguably have always been the status quo, writes Ross Trustees’ Roger Mattingly.
This always-on approach to scheme governance has come to the fore as a way to proactively respond to the enforced challenges of Covid-19. Although it evolved through necessity, it should be retained as the governance best practice model.
The stop-start predecessor to continuous governance was quarterly, and occasionally less frequent, face-to-face, four to five-hour trustee meetings, punctuated by a buffet lunch and small talk. These meetings were occasionally augmented by extraordinary conference calls, usually triggered by an unforeseen issue or the need for an inter-meeting decision.
Continuous governance will permanently replace what went before, but will be blended with in-person interaction once it is safe and once all involved decide the time is right
Those present were largely individuals with day jobs other than pensions whose busy schedules had to be synchronised and a time convenient for all identified, often some way off. Decision-making was an inefficient business.
This model no longer exists in its previous format. It has been replaced by an initial flurry of conference calls, which have now morphed into an array of video-link virtual meetings, Zoom, WebEx, MTeams, Fuze, Skype, 8by8, Blue Jeans, to name but a few.
Professionals becoming more common
This virtual world lends itself to efficient interaction by all relevant parties without the need for tortuous journeys to all corners of the UK and beyond.
It also now increasingly involves individuals whose day job actually is pensions, in the form of accredited professional trustees that can devote their time and expertise to the continuous governance cause.
The lexicon of pensions governance has changed overnight, but without the technology it relies on, continuous governance would have been ‘little or no governance’.
Virtual meetings now last two to three hours and are punctuated by frequent and often efficient half-hour Zoom calls aimed at keeping the governance, and current Covid-19 risk management, flowing.
Face-to-face still valuable
Although time-consuming, continuous governance will permanently replace what went before, but will be blended with in-person interaction once it is safe and once all involved decide the time is right.
That time is not now, and may not be until well into 2021, but until then the new governance model is fit for purpose, working well for the benefit of the millions of scheme members but very technology dependent.
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None of this remote-working continuous governance would have been possible in the pre-digital era. It is happening and will continue to happen provided the IT lights are kept on.
The continuous governance process has been borne out of necessity but is how it should be. Arguably, it is how it always should have been.
Roger Mattingly is a trustee director at Ross Trustees
