July 2022
15Jul

The Unbearable Lightness of the Reform of the Pension System

By Hans van Meerten & Sanne Vlastuin In this article, Hans van Meerten (Professor of European Pension Law at Utrecht University) and Sanne Vlastuin (Master's Student in Private Law at Utrecht University) discuss the transition to a new Dutch pension system. In particular, they pay attention to European law aspects that could be problematic in this light, including the pension participant as consumer and the information gap of pension participants. More is needed to make the envisaged pension system EU-proof...

July 15, 2022
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15Jul

UK. Minister calls on pension schemes to get “data ready” for dashboards

The calls come as the government publishes its response to a consultation which gathered feedback from industry, potential providers, consumer groups and future users on what data should be included and how this should be displayed to people. Bringing pensions into the digital age, dashboards will allow savers to see what they have in their various pensions – including their State Pension – in a single place online, at any time they choose. Ten years since the introduction of Automatic Enrolment...

July 15, 2022
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12Jul

UK. FCA appoints new chair

Ashley Alder has been announced by HM Treasury as the new chair of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and is expected to take up the role in January 2023, taking over from Richard Lloyd who has served as interim chair since May 2022. Alder is currently chief executive officer of the Securities and Future Commission (SFC) in Hong Kong, a role he has held since 2011, and also chairs the board of the International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) and...

July 12, 2022
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11Jul

UK. Guy Opperman reappointed pensions minister

Guy Opperman has agreed to return to his pensions minister post until a new leader of the Conservative party is elected. Opperman announced his reappointment as parliamentary under secretary of state at the Department for Work and Pensions on Twitter on July 8, a day after resigning from his post when he said the government could no longer function and asked prime minister Boris Johnson to step down from office. “[I] have agreed to help DWP navigate the next few weeks,...

July 11, 2022
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07Jul

U.K. pensions minister Guy Opperman resigns

Guy Opperman, the U.K.'s longest-serving pensions minister, resigned Thursday amid a wave of top officials departing in the lead up to Prime Minister Boris Johnson stepping down. In his resignation letter to Mr. Johnson, Mr. Opperman said that the U.K. government "simply cannot function with you in charge." "It should not take the resignation of 50 colleagues, but sadly the PM has left us no choice. He should resign," Mr. Opperman said in the letter. Mr. Opperman became parliamentary under secretary of...

July 7, 2022
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05Jul

German regulator adds more guidelines for occupational schemes’ risk assessment reports

The German financial supervisory authority, BaFin, has released further guidelines for occupational pension schemes to improve their own risk assessment reports, which that are so far not in line with the requirements set by the regulator. IORPs are not meeting the minimum requirements specified in the circular 09/2020 (VA), that provides information on the interpretation of regulations on own risk assessment (ERB) according to paragraph 234d of the Insurance Supervision Act (VAG). The ERB circular recommends occupational schemes to structure risk...

July 5, 2022
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June 2022
30Jun

India. PFRDA to go fully digital in operations, invites bids from IT vendors to launch tech project

Pension fund regulator PFRDA has initiated steps to digitise its operations through the 'Technology Architecture (TARCH) Project', inviting bids from IT solutions providers to launch the project. PFRDA's most of the operations are currently manual in nature, and digitisation is partial. PFRDA has decided to digitise and automate its operations through Technology Architecture (TARCH) Project, which is envisioned to be a modular and API (Application Programming Interface) based platform, PFRDA said in a bid document seeking interest from reputed IT...

June 30, 2022
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28Jun

US. New IRS Pre-Examination Retirement Plan Compliance Program

The Internal Revenue Service recently announced a new pilot pre-examination retirement plan compliance program initiated in June. If you are a plan sponsor, do not play ostrich should you receive an IRS Pre-Examination Retirement Plan Notice. Failure to respond timely to the pre-examination notice may result in larger legal, accounting and/or audit fees and the imposition of larger sanctions. Under the new program you have 90 days to do a self-audit of the plan that is the subject of the...

June 28, 2022
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27Jun

China: Securities regulator proposes rules for inclusion of mutual funds in private pension scheme

The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) has said that mutual funds with at least CNY50m ($7.48m) of assets over the past four quarters are eligible to participate in the country's pilot private pension scheme. The securities regulator has proposed rules to regulate mutual funds, setting the criteria for qualified products and sales agents under a private pension scheme that will channel fresh savings into the country's capital markets, reported Reuters. The draft rules, published on 24 June, follow the launch by...

June 27, 2022
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23Jun

US. BlackRock offers feedback to SEC on climate-risk disclosure proposal

BlackRock, which embraces climate-conscious investing and is pushing other companies to do the same, still supports the rules proposed by the SEC requiring climate-related disclosures from public companies. But the money manager has some notes for the regulator. In a June 17 letter to the SEC, BlackRock reiterated its belief that "climate risk is investment risk" and that related disclosures aligned with the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures framework should be mandated. However, the firm does not agree with...

June 23, 2022
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