September 2025
26Sep

UK. Industry urges policy shift to revive DB and accelerate CDC

The Society of Pension Professionals (SPP) has called for a policy reboot to keep existing defined benefit (DB) schemes open and to fast-track collective defined contribution (CDC) schemes, as the relaunched Pensions Commission turns its attention to pensions adequacy. In a new paper, Past Lessons, Future Gains, SPP argued that the current adequacy crisis cannot be fixed by contribution reviews alone and urged the commission to examine the type of scheme people save into, warning that the long shift from...

September 26, 2025
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25Sep

Namibia. The technicalities of financing housing through pensions

The Namibian government has recently approved a reduction in the interest rate pension funds must apply when they provide housing loans to members. This decision has sparked national discussion, as it directly impacts the interests of members of both public and private pension funds who may want to utilise their retirement savings to secure a home. Pension-backed housing loans are not a new phenomenon. The Pension Funds Act No. 24 of 1956, as amended, has long made provision for such...

September 25, 2025
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23Sep

UK. PensionBee Urges Pensions Commission to Deliver Bold Reforms to Secure Better Retirements for Millions of UK Savers

Millions risk being condemned to retirement poverty unless the UK’s pensions system is overhauled, PensionBee has warned, as it calls on the Pensions Commission to deliver bold reforms to tackle deep-rooted structural inequalities. In a letter to the Commission, the leading online pension provider highlights how women, unpaid carers, the self-employed and lower-paid workers are being locked out of the progress achieved through Auto-Enrolment, while many others are being held back by a pensions market that is too complex and...

September 23, 2025
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19Sep

Retirement income market data 2024/25

By Financial Conduct Authority We have collected data on the retirement income market since April 2015. The data helps us monitor developments. For example, it gives us insight into the actions consumers take the first time they access a pension pot. Previously published data up to March 2018 is also included in separate tables. The data for these periods was initially drawn from a representative sample. We started collecting data from all regulated firms that provide retirement income products from 1 April...

September 19, 2025
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19Sep

Pensions UK urges small pension pot consolidation by 2030

The pensions industry should drive small pension pots consolidation by 2030, trade body Pensions UK has urged. In its Small Pots Feasibility Review, the organisation looked at how to resolve the issue of small pensions pots. It pointed out that small pension pots are costly to deliver and confusing for savers. Torsten Bell, Minister for Pensions, said: “With more small pots than pensioners in the UK, too many people are losing track of their hard-earned savings. This is bad for pensions savers...

September 19, 2025
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17Sep

Dutch central bank reviews climate and nature risk to pensions and insurance

De Nederlandsche Bank is making a new push to help financial institutions manage climate and nature-related risk and it is conducting analysis of these risks at pension funds and insurers with a view to incorporating them into its regular risk assessments. “While the emphasis in recent years has been on raising awareness, DNB will increasingly focus on regulatory compliance. Supervision will follow a risk-based approach, tailored to the institution’s size, complexity, and the materiality of the risks,” the Dutch central...

September 17, 2025
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12Sep

Social infrastructure law in the UK, EU and US

By Ewan McGaughey What should be the goals of social infrastructure, and the best means to achieve them? Social infrastructure is a new term to describe the welfare state, whose conceptual foundations were laid in Lord Beveridge’s Report, Social Insurance and Allied Services (1942). A good government, said Beveridge, should tackle five evil ‘giants’, namely disease, ignorance, squalor, idleness, and want. These could be overcome with a universal free health service, public education, public housing, full employment, and income insurance...

September 12, 2025
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05Sep

The Need For Regulation Of Private Equity: Evidence From De-Spac Transactions

By Sureyya Burcu Avci, Cindy A. Schipani & H. Nejat Seyhun In this Article, we examine whether regulation is needed to protect investors in private equity. We do this by analyzing the performance of de-SPAC transactions that solicited private investment. These private investments in public equity are known as PIPEs. Because PIPE returns are publicly available, we are empirically able to determine whether the limited PIPE investors are getting a fair deal in these investments. We find that de-SPAC investors...

September 5, 2025
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05Sep

UK. Amendment Watch: What changes are being proposed to the Pension Schemes Bill?

On the first day back for MPs after the summer recess, the UK parliament’s website published more than 200 amendments to the Pension Schemes Bill ahead of the start of the committee scrutiny stage of its journey through parliament. By the middle of this week, this list had grown to more than 270. Industry representatives from trade bodies, pension providers, and other organisations this week gave evidence to the scrutinising committee on its various aspects, from surplus release to investment...

September 5, 2025
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August 2025
28Aug

Pensions UK to lobby for changes to mandation rules in Pension Schemes Bill

Pensions UK, the retirement industry trade body, is to step up lobbying against investment mandation when the Pension Schemes Bill returns to parliament next week. The bill is due to be scrutinised by a parliamentary committee at sittings scheduled for next week. Pensions UK’s director of policy and advocacy Zoe Alexander will give evidence to the committee at the first session on 2 September. Pensions UK said it “believes in a pensions sector that puts fiduciary duty to savers at its...

August 28, 2025
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