All News articles – Page 245

  • Getty Images
    News

    IBM revises cash commutation factors

    2016-12-08T00:00:00Z

    The IBM Pension Trust has updated its cash commutation factors, offering transferring members across its schemes higher lump sums when exchanging part of their defined benefit entitlements.

  • News

    OECD calls for DC redesign and stronger education

    2016-12-08T00:00:00Z

    The OECD, a Paris-based group of mostly wealthy nations, has stressed the need to strengthen defined contribution pension design, as well as the education and advice offered to members.

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    Stagecoach chair stresses need for accurate cash flow data

    2016-12-07T00:00:00Z

    Accurate data on scheme balance sheets and a willingness to seek out information independently of consultants and advisers is crucial to managing a scheme facing changing cash flows, the chair of the Stagecoach Group Pension Scheme said this week.

  • News

    Cold-calling ban could strengthen scheme powers to block transfers

    2016-12-06T00:00:00Z

    The government has launched its consultation on pension scams, proposing bans on pension-related cold calls, limits on the statutory right to transfer and tighter regulations for setting up potentially fraudulent schemes. 

  • Bloomberg
    News

    One year wiser: What trustees have learnt in 2016

    2016-12-05T00:00:00Z

    Any other business: From Brexit to Trump, 2016 has been a year of the once-inconceivable coming to pass. Faith in institutions, already low, has taken repeated batterings as prediction after prediction has turned out to be wrong.

  • News

    TPR's record-keeping push welcomed but stresses remain for small schemes

    2016-12-02T00:00:00Z

    The Pensions Regulator is demanding that trustees report on record-keeping in the scheme return and has issued new guidance, after conducting a survey which found that too many are not measuring members’ data.

  • News

    Select committee sets sights on gig economy

    2016-12-02T00:00:00Z

    The Work and Pensions Committee has this week launched an inquiry into self-employment and the so-called gig economy, focusing on pensions as well as universal credit, support and labour market participation.

  • News

    Ownership or nudge? How to make auto-escalation work

    2016-12-02T00:00:00Z

    The pensions industry and government must instil a sense of “personal ownership” over pensions in currently underprepared members if auto-enrolment is to achieve its aims, pensions minister Richard Harrington has said.

  • News

    HMRC consults on GMP equalisation despite Brexit

    2016-12-01T00:00:00Z

    The government has this week launched a consultation on the methodology for equalisation of guaranteed minimum pensions, indicating commitment to the issue, which goes back to EU law, despite the Brexit vote.

  • News

    Consumers to be encouraged to shop around with proposed annuity provider rules

    2016-11-28T00:00:00Z

    New plans announced by the Financial Conduct Authority will require annuity providers to make consumers aware of rival deals before they purchase an annuity, but some experts say there should be a similar solution for other retirement products.

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    News

    FCA annuity provider rules to encourage consumers to shop around

    2016-11-28T00:00:00Z

    New plans announced by the Financial Conduct Authority will require annuity providers to make consumers aware of rival deals before they purchase an annuity, and some experts say there should be similar rules for other retirement products.

  • News

    FCA reveals transfer data as experts note 'dramatic' increase

    2016-11-25T00:00:00Z

    Close to 8,000 people transferred out of defined benefit schemes and into defined contribution between Q3 2015 and Q1 2016, figures from the Financial Conduct Authority show, but experts estimate the numbers may be even higher.

  • News

    Increased contributions vital to continue AE success story

    2016-11-25T00:00:00Z

    The real tests of auto-enrolment are still to come, one of the architects of the initiative has warned, as an adequacy report found many defined contribution-reliant members of Generation X are already beyond auto-enrolment’s help.

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    'Unconflicted' MNTs have a place on trustee boards, experts say

    2016-11-23T00:00:00Z

    Communicating complicated legislative changes, focusing on defined contribution governance and protecting members’ benefits are just a few of the challenges faced by trustee boards.

  • Bloomberg
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    Chancellor proposes ban on cold calling, refrains from pensions tax overhaul

    2016-11-23T00:00:00Z

    In his first and last Autumn Statement, Chancellor Philip Hammond swapped the timing of the Budget and the Statement but had comparatively little to say about pensions for now; one of the larger measures – a consultation into pensions fraud – was welcomed by the industry.

  • News

    Trustees not convinced by indexation change arguments

    2016-11-23T00:00:00Z

    Trustees are overwhelmingly in favour of restructuring scheme benefit structures in response to the defined benefit crisis, a recent survey has suggested, but stop short of supporting a statutory override on increases of accrued benefits.

  • Abbey Mills pumping station (Thames Water)
    News

    Thames Water pours money into LDI

    2016-11-21T00:00:00Z

    Trustees of Thames Water’s two defined benefit pension schemes have been focusing on risk reduction over the past year, introducing a new liability-driven portfolio for both funds. 

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    FCA wants to strengthen duty on managers and consultants

    2016-11-18T00:00:00Z

    About £109bn of investor assets is held by managers who charge high fees but do not offer significant variation from an index-tracking strategy, the Financial Conduct Authority’s interim report on competition in the asset management market has found.

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    Draft Lisa rules attempt to prevent AE opt-outs

    2016-11-18T00:00:00Z

    Providers of the lifetime Isa should warn savers that substituting their pension for the product will mean they lose out on employer contributions, draft rules published by the Financial Conduct Authority have proposed.

  • Bloomberg
    News

    Early exit charge cap attracts criticism and praise

    2016-11-15T00:00:00Z

    Both the government and the Financial Conduct Authority have confirmed plans to introduce caps on early exit pension charges, but authorities should take care not to actively encourage early decumulation, experts say.