March 2019

13Mar

UK. Consumers need simpler retirement products, says outgoing FSCS boss

Pension products should carry a quality mark from the City regulator so customers know they are buying good value, the outgoing chief executive of a savings safety net has suggested. Mark Neale, who has previously announced his intention to step down after spending nine years as chief executive of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), suggested that pension products could be subject to a quality marking scheme by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The FSCS, which is funded by...

March 13, 2019
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12Mar

UK. Pension warning for hundreds of thousands of carers

Hundreds of thousands of carers are unwittingly denying themselves a full state pension by failing to apply for carer’s credit. Figures from a Freedom of Information request reveal just 17,388 people received carer’s credit at the end of 2018. But according to government figures, around 200,000 carers are eligible – and most are women. If a carer fails to claim for carer’s credit, they could get less state pension in the future because these credits help plug gaps in...

March 12, 2019
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11Mar

EU and UK reach agreement over no-deal Brexit insurance rules

In case the UK withdraws from the EU without ratification of the withdrawal agreement, on March 30, 2019, the UK becomes a third country and UK insurance undertakings and distributors lose their right to conduct business across the EU27 Member States. This story is reprinted with permission from the Insurance Coverage Law Center, the industry’s only comprehensive digital resource designed for insurance coverage law professionals. Read more @Property Casualty360

March 11, 2019
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11Mar

The case for betting pensions on start-ups

While cautious funds sit on £2.4 trillion, pressure is mounting to find ways to funnel some of that cash to entrepreneurs Nicole Eagan had every right to be excited as she announced a new funding round for her cyber-security venture, Darktrace, two years ago. The $75m investment marked a “critical milestone” for the start-up, she said, and would allow it to continue along a path of “unprecedented growth”. Darktrace, which uses artificial intelligence to spot and respond to cyber-...

March 11, 2019
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08Mar

UK. Amber Rudd sparks race row after referring to Diane Abbott as ‘coloured’

Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd has apologised after referring to the shadow home secretary, Diane Abbott, as “a coloured woman.” Rudd made the comments on Jeremy Vine’s BBC Radio 2 show on Thursday, while talking about abuse of women in Parliament. “It definitely is worse if you’re a woman, and it’s worst of all if you’re a coloured woman,” she said. “I know that Diane Abbott gets a huge amount of abuse, and I think that’s something...

March 8, 2019
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08Mar

International Women’s Day: women’s rights on labour wards, pensions, an end to austerity – what we’ll be fighting for in 2019

International Women’s Day 2019, a day celebrating progress and demanding equality, comes after a seismic 12 months. From the growth of #MeToo to Gina Martin’s successful campaign to make upskirting illegal, the power of activism been demonstrated across the world. Meanwhile, a number of campaigns are gathering steam and will be getting louder (and louder) throughout 2019. IWD is marked by celebration, protest and dialogue. It’s a chance to ask each other: where are we? Where do we...

March 8, 2019
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07Mar

UK. PensionBee flags risks of Now Pension fee structure

Fintech consolidator PensionBee has warned of "an unacceptable level of risk" that a large proportion of pots in Now Pensions will be eroded to zero by charges. Last month the master trust, the third biggest in the market, defended its charging model after criticism from Labour MP Steve McCabe. Mr McCabe, a member of the Work and Pensions select committee, said at a hearing in Parliament that Now Pensions had a charging structure where they charged a £1.50 admin...

March 7, 2019
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06Mar

UK. End to unnecessary benefit reassessments for disabled pensioners

Hundreds of thousands of disabled pensioners will no longer have to go through unnecessary reassessments for disability benefits, Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd has said today (5 March 2019). Around 270,000 people receiving Personal Independence Payment (PIP) who have reached State Pension age will no longer have their awards regularly reviewed, instead moving to a light touch review every 10 years. The changes are part of a wider package of measures announced by Amber Rudd, signalling a shift...

March 6, 2019
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06Mar

UK. Pensions watchdog tells weak companies to stop handing cash to investors

Weak companies have been told they must stop dishing out fat payouts to shareholders if they are struggling to fill a hole in their pension scheme. The Pensions Regulator (TPR), which has a responsibility to safeguard pensions, said that if an employer is “weak and unable to support the scheme” then it expects the “payment of shareholder distributions to have ceased”. The disparity between shareholder dividends and pension contributions has been a major area of focus since the high-profile...

March 6, 2019
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05Mar

Phoenix Group sees more UK Plc pension insurance deals as Brexit nears

Phoenix Group, Europe’s largest owner of life assurance funds closed to new customers, expects Britain’s approaching departure from the European Union to push more UK companies to offload risks linked to their pension schemes in 2019. The company also reported higher full-year profit and targeted cash generation of 3.8 billion pounds ($5.01 billion)from 2019 to 2023, more than the 2.5 billion pounds it earlier expected to earn between 2018 and 2022. Phoenix, poised to enter London’s blue-chip index, also...

March 5, 2019
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