October 2023
05Oct

Education gaps and time constraints: The ESG burdens facing UK pension trustees

With ESG rapidly rising up the agenda for UK pension schemes, their often overstretched trustee boards have been grappling with how to ensure it gets enough time on agendas and how to educate themselves on fast-moving developments. Janice Turner, co-chair of the Association of Member Nominated Trustees (AMNT), told Responsible Investor that the proportion of trustee time taken up by ESG matters has been increasing every year, especially due to enhanced regulatory requirements. “I would assume that ESG is an agenda item at...

October 5, 2023
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03Oct

UK. DB funding levels remain buoyant despite volatility

Pension scheme trustees have been urged to take the time to review their endgame options, after industry analysis revealed that UK defined benefit (DB) funding levels have continued to improve, despite ongoing volatility. Analysis from XPS Pensions found that, despite the Bank of England holding interest rates steady for the first time since late 2021, the aggregate surplus of UK DB pension schemes stood at around £169bn at the end of September. Aggregate scheme assets were also down over the month...

October 3, 2023
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02Oct

UK. Concerns over self-employed pension adequacy persist

Self-employed workers could boost their retirement resilience by paying into their partner's pension, Hargreaves Lansdown has said, after its analysis raised concerns over the current level of pension saving amongst the self-employed. According to the latest data from the Hargreaves Lansdown Savings and Resilience Barometer, self-employed led households scored 53/100 for their financial resilience compared to 67/100 among employee-led households. However, the firm clarified that the picture is "a bit more nuanced than this", as households where the self-employed worker is...

October 2, 2023
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02Oct

UK. DWP urged to assess case for formal regulation of pension scheme administrators

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) should assess the case for bringing administrators into formal regulation, an independent review of The Pensions Regulator (TPR) says The review, published last month, was led by Mary Starks - a former director of competition and chief economist at the Financial Conduct Authority - who was appointed to lead the review into TPR at the beginning of this year. Starks found TPR's supervision team currently engages with three pension scheme administrators on a voluntary basis but said...

October 2, 2023
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September 2023
29Sep

TPR issues first climate-related reporting penalty to ExxonMobil’s U.K. plan

The U.K.'s Pensions Regulator issued its first fine against a pension fund for failing to publish a report on how its trustees manage and govern climate-related risks and opportunities, delivering a £5,000 ($6,118) penalty to the ExxonMobil Pension Plan, Leatherhead, England. U.K. pension funds with more than £5 billion in assets have been required to publish a climate change report by a set deadline since October 2021. The report must be made publicly available on a website so participants can...

September 29, 2023
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28Sep

Pension Savings Are an Emerging UK Political Battleground

Nothing says an election is looming more than a raft of proposed policies that have been collecting dust on think tank shelves for years . UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt has been dropping heavy hints of reforms and enhancements targeted at Conservatives’ core voters — namely people who follow changes in pensions and savings. The underlying theme is Buy UK equities. Hunt will seek to address getting UK savers to stop hoarding cash and making it easier for...

September 28, 2023
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27Sep

Comparing ESG regulation globally remains elusive – report

Comparing global regulatory demands on ESG funds will continue to be elusive, according to a regulatory update from ISS ESG published Sept. 21. Experts at the Institutional Shareholder Services' sustainable investment arm reviewed current and proposed regulations in the European Union, U.K., U.S., Canada, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan, and surmised "that navigating the emerging regimes will remain a challenge for the foreseeable future," the 2023 Global Regulatory Update said. It noted that two major sustainability reporting standards were finalized in 2023:...

September 27, 2023
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27Sep

UK pensions pull back from private equity

The steady increase in UK interest rates since the start of last year has resulted in improved funding ratios for the plans that comprise this $1.67tn pool of capital, allowing them to move money out of buyout and venture capital funds and into less risky assets, according to several pension system managers and consultants. Traditional pensions have been a mainstay source of capital to sponsored funds for decades, but changed market conditions since last year have caused that flow to...

September 27, 2023
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26Sep

UK pension schemes reveal 4,000% rise in cyber security breaches

Pension scheme trustees have been urged to remain mindful of cybersecurity risks, after research from RPC revealed a 4,000 per cent increase in data breach reports to the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) in the year to June 2023. The research found that UK financial services firms reported 640 cybersecurity breaches to the ICO in the year to June 30 2023, marking a threefold increase on the 187 cybersecurity breaches in the previous period. UK pension schemes reported the biggest...

September 26, 2023
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26Sep

UK. How can the pensions market help diversify DC savings?

There is a wide gap between the defined benefit and defined contribution generations in terms of the standard of living they are heading into for in retirement. Narrowing this gap was identified as a key driver for government by pensions minister Laura Trott in her keynote address to Onward, which she delivered the day after chancellor Jeremy Hunt's Mansion House speech. But while many who represent pension providers are clamouring for this gap to be filled by additional contributions, the government says we can...

September 26, 2023
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