September 2024
24Sep

US. DOL vs. IRS rules: Courts asked to decide how 401(k) plans can use forfeiture assets

What started as a small law firm filing a handful of suits against 401(k) plans' use of forfeited funds has metastasized into a broad attack on sponsors that raises questions about reducing participants' expenses. It's a trend of more law firms filing more lawsuits seeking to use Department of Labor regulations regarding fiduciary duty to supersede IRS rules. Although there are differences among the various sponsor-defendants, the general theme is the same: What can sponsors do with company contributions to a...

September 24, 2024
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24Sep

UK. Pension schemes should not ignore SDR

With the rollout of the FCA’s Sustainability Disclosure Regulations (SDR) now well underway, pension schemes should consider how their ESG and sustainability objectives could be impacted by the regime in the long-term, according to AXA Investment Managers (AXA IM). One of the key components of SDR is fund labelling, with qualifying asset managers having been able to use the four new sustainability labels for asset managers – Focus, Improvers, Impact and Mixed Goals – from 31 July 2024. Being a voluntary...

September 24, 2024
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17Sep

Australia. Govt unveils legacy pension exit plan

The federal government has announced plans to allow people to exit legacy pensions over a five-year period by relaxing commutation restrictions and allocating reserves to SMSF members where those funds supported an income stream to that member. The proposed changes have been released for consultation and are contained within the draft Treasury Laws Amendment (Self-managed superannuation funds – legacy retirement product conversions and reserves) Regulations 2024 published today by Treasury. The explanatory statement to the regulations published by Treasury and Financial...

September 17, 2024
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10Sep

Reflecting on this summer’s global IT outages – lessons for pension schemes

After the Capita Cyber Security incident of March/April 2023 (which we discussed at the time here) and, more recently, BBC cyber security incident of May 2024 (which we also discussed here), the pensions industry arguably did not need another reminder of the importance of cyber security for its schemes and stakeholders. However, the global IT outage that took place this summer (July 2024) has provided another such reminder – highlighting the heavy reliance of modern society on our digital infrastructure, and equally,...

September 10, 2024
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09Sep

UK. FCA bans 4 over ‘reckless’ pension transfer advice

The Financial Conduct Authority has banned two financial advisers and two partners from St Martin’s Partners LLP from working in financial services and has collectively fined them £590,544, for "reckless" pension transfer advice. The regulator said Adrian Douglas, Liam Martin, Frank Oxberry and Alec Cuthbert were responsible for a pension transfer advice model that put people’s guaranteed retirement benefits at risk. Between October 2015 and July 2016, the FCA claims St Martin’s Partners’ advice model put 547 customers at “significant risk” of transferring...

September 9, 2024
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August 2024
30Aug

US. Texas is sued over anti-ESG law

 Texas was sued on Thursday by a nonprofit whose members support environmentally-friendly policies, and which seeks to block a state law targeting businesses that support reduced reliance on fossil fuels. The American Sustainable Business Council said the 2021 law known as Senate Bill 13 violates members' free speech rights by banning Texas from investing in or contracting with businesses that, in the state's view, "boycott" the oil and gas industry. Texas is the largest and among the most prominent Republican-led states...

August 30, 2024
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30Aug

Australian regulator plans stress test on private credit risks

Australia’s banking regulator plans to stress test the nation’s financial sector to shed more light on the impact of private credit capital flows on other market segments. “Private credit is a new and emerging risk that we are looking at,” said John Lonsdale, chair of the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) at a media conference in Sydney on Aug. 28. “We want to work on more transparency in this area and we’ve signaled that already there is quite a lot...

August 30, 2024
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21Aug

UK. Pension organisations call on Treasury to expedite regulation of investment consultants

ShareAction has written to the Treasury urging it to expedite plans to regulate all activities of investment consultants. The charity was joined in its call by several pension organisations, including the Association of Member-Nominated Trustees, Pensions for Purpose, and Make My Money Matter. ShareAction noted that, at various times over the past 10 years, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), and parliamentary committees have called for investment consultants to be brought within the FCA’s regulatory framework. It urged...

August 21, 2024
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20Aug

US pension funds react to Republican probe of Climate Action 100+

Public pension funds in the US have pushed back against a Republican probe into the US members of Climate Action 100+, warning that climate engagement is consistent with their fiduciary responsibilities. At the end of July, Republican lawmakers on the House Judicial Committee sent a letter to more than 130 investor signatories – or recent ex-signatories – of CA100+, demanding information on actions they planned to take as part of the initiative, which Republicans call a “climate cartel”, as well...

August 20, 2024
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19Aug

UK. Pension review to start with consolidation of DC market

The first phase of the government’s pensions review will include driving scale and consolidation of defined contribution workplace schemes. Announced on Friday (August 16), the initial phase also aims to tackle fragmentation and inefficiency in the local government pension scheme through consolidation and governance. Experts have urged the government to keep the interests of savers at the forefront. In addition, it will look at the structure of the pensions ecosystem and achieving a greater focus on value to deliver better outcomes for...

August 19, 2024
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