All Opinion articles – Page 19

  • Girish Menezes
    Opinion

    Protecting pensions against pandemic-enhanced cyber criminals

    2021-04-27T00:00:00Z

    Premier Pensions head of administration Girish Menezes details how the pandemic has made pension fund data vulnerable to cyber attacks, and explains what schemes and administrators can do to better protect their members’ information.

  • Shola Salako
    Opinion

    Why we need greater diversity in trustee boards

    2021-04-26T00:00:00Z

    More gender and race diversity is needed in trustee boards as this will result in better outcomes for members of pensions schemes, writes professional trustee Shola Salako.

  • Stephen Muers
    Opinion

    Schemes to pay more attention to social factors in ESG strategies

    2021-04-19T00:00:00Z

    As the UK government turns its attention to the social factors in schemes’ environmental, social and governance investment strategies, Big Society Capital interim chief executive Stephen Muers explains how pension funds can address this issue while maintaining fiduciary duty to their members.

  • Sion Cole
    Opinion

    How do pension schemes meet TCFD obligations?

    2021-04-19T00:00:00Z

    Sion Cole, head of UK fiduciary business at BlackRock, details how climate-adjusted analytics are key to mapping pension schemes’ climate risk exposures.

  • Zack and Whiteoak
    Opinion

    Court case may restrict international reach of TPR’s powers

    2021-04-09T00:00:00Z

    A recent Supreme Court ruling on corporate fraud has given some much-needed guidance on the extent to which a prosecuting authority’s information-gathering powers have extraterritorial reach.

  • Lester and Blakstad
    Opinion

    Forex risk – forgotten factor in private capital performance?

    2021-04-08T00:00:00Z

    Kevin Lester and Haakon Blakstad, chief executive and chief commercial officer of Validus Risk Management, detail how schemes’ currency risk has grown over the past years with the rush to alternative assets, and how it can have a big impact on investment performance.

  • Bethan Livesey
    Opinion

    Systemic issues won’t be addressed until regulator thinks systemically

    2021-03-29T00:00:00Z

    ShareAction’s director of policy, Bethan Livesey, calls for the regulator to provide sector-wide resources and data on environmental, social and governance risks for schemes to use in their own assessments.

  • Opinion

    The future is… consolidation?

    2021-03-22T00:00:00Z

    Consolidation in the defined contribution market is booming, with master trusts sweeping smaller schemes, but questions remain about who will be the winners, writes PTL’s managing director Richard Butcher.

  • Philip Rose
    Opinion

    Green gilts have a role to play in schemes’ portfolios

    2021-03-15T00:00:00Z

    Redington’s chief investment officer for strategy and risk, Philip Rose, details how green bonds can have a role in pension schemes portfolios as they can be better integrated into LDI and hedging mandates, where opportunities have been relatively limited.

  • Iain Clacher
    Opinion

    New green finance centre to bring robust ESG metrics

    2021-03-12T00:00:00Z

    University of Leeds Professor Iain Clacher, who is leading on pensions and asset management work at the new Centre for Greening Finance and Investment, explains how the new body will allow financial institutions to access scientifically robust climate and environmental data.

  • Jacqui Woodward
    Opinion

    Seismic shift coming to DB consolidation

    2021-03-12T00:00:00Z

    Stoneport’s head of covenant, Jacqui Woodward, explains why the UK’s defined benefit sector could suddenly experience an increase in consolidation, similar to that experienced in other countries such as Australia, the Netherlands and Germany.

  • Imran Sattar
    Opinion

    How scheme trustees can make implementation statements matter

    2021-03-12T00:00:00Z

    Implementation statements can provide a valuable framework for pension trustees to engage with underlying asset managers on their stewardship responsibilities, writes Imran Sattar, fund manager at Majedie Asset Management. 

  • David Brooks
    Opinion

    Lifetime allowance freeze reopens debate on its relevance

    2021-03-05T00:00:00Z

    Broadstone technical director David Brooks analyses the pension announcements made by chancellor Rishi Sunak in the Budget, and questions what is the purpose of the lifetime allowance.

  • Mike Teall
    Opinion

    Why purpose, personalisation and pace must shape modern pensions

    2021-03-01T00:00:00Z

    PA Consulting pensions expert Mike Teall details the steps needed to bring pensions into the 21st century, with the pensions dashboard being the catalyser for change.

  • Opinion

    Schemes should take a practical approach to GMP transfers

    2021-02-22T00:00:00Z

    Buck’s senior consulting actuary, Paul Butfield, details the challenges schemes will face to equalise guaranteed minimum pensions in past transfers, warning that trustees need to start this process as soon as possible.

  • Sarah Gordon
    Opinion

    Making your pension scheme investments count

    2021-02-17T00:00:00Z

    While considering that pension schemes are not philanthropists, Impact Investing Institute chief executive Sarah Gordon believes pension funds should invest in businesses that deliver positive impact, as these are more likely to produce genuinely sustainable profit streams.

  • Opinion

    Schemes cannot own same stocks in a downturn as in a recovery

    2021-02-17T00:00:00Z

    Pension funds need to respond to a regime change from the low-growth, low-inflation environment that suited bonds and bond proxy equities, to a reflationary/inflationary one that will suit cyclicals, energy and materials, and value stocks in particular, warns Ian Lance, co-manager of the Temple Bar Investment Trust.

  • Phillip Evans, David Lawne
    Opinion

    Schemes to benefit from UK’s burgeoning collective action boost

    2021-02-11T00:00:00Z

    The UK’s collective action regime has received a powerful boost from a recent judgment, which is good news for pension funds as they stand to benefit from collective actions, say former inquiry chair at the Competition and Markets Authority Phillip Evans and Hausfeld & Co partner David Lawne.

  • Girish Menezes
    Opinion

    Are we pension Luddites?

    2021-02-11T00:00:00Z

    The Pensions Administration Standards Association’s board director, Girish Menezes, suggests a seven-step strategy to bring the pensions industry into the 21st century, as members will expect a transition to online par with other financial industries.

  • Opinion

    How to achieve diversity in pension schemes’ boards

    2021-01-26T00:00:00Z

    Sackers senior associate Emily Rowley describes a series of practical steps trustees should consider if they want to increase the diversity of their board.