April 2023

U.K. Pensions Regulator calls for more safeguards for LDI

Pension fund trustees should put in place appropriate buffers to manage any leveraged liability-driven investment arrangements, the U.K. Pensions Regulator said Monday. In a new guidance, which was published following the September LDI crisis, the regulator said investors must also include an operational buffer specific to the LDI arrangement to manage day-to-day changes, in addition to the 250 basis points minimum. Setting the right buffer level is essential so the fund can operate in the normal way even where there are...

Dashboard provider PensionSmith launches in UK

The integrated member web, education and communications platform has been operating in South Africa and Namibia since 2019 as ‘The Benefit Counsellor’. Having spent the last four years developing its platform, the firm has over 400,000 active members in South Africa, with a monthly engagement rate of over 50 per cent. The platform offers tools for member communication, member education, and aims to add a pension dashboard connection to allow members to view and interact with all their pension plans in...

UK. BP facing green rebellion at annual shareholder meeting

BP faces a green rebellion at its annual shareholder meeting on Thursday as some of Britain’s biggest pension funds prepare to demand the company toughen its plans to reduce its emissions by 2030. The National Employment Savings Trust (Nest), which represents about 11m individual workplace pensions, plans to back a resolution put forward by climate campaigners at Follow This, which calls for BP to align its emissions reduction plans with the Paris agreement. The campaign group has also won support from...

UK. DB pension trustees urged to assess risk management amid rising insolvencies

Defined benefit (DB) pension scheme trustees have been encouraged to review how they are managing their pension risks after data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that company insolvencies increased in March. According to the ONS, total insolvencies were up by 16 per cent compared to March last year, while the number of compulsory liquidations more than doubled, up by 106 per cent year-on-year. Furthermore, total bankruptcies and debt relief orders increased by 28 per cent over the same...

UK. ‘The current pensions system is not fit for purpose’

By Stephanie Hawthorne The death knell for defined benefit pension provision has been tolled many times, even if the final 'coffin nail’ has not quite yet been hammered into its lid. Millions of ordinary workers, from journalists, railway workers to shop assistants in WH Smith, enjoyed DB pensions without appreciating just how good a perk they were, until it was almost too late. What a failure in communications. Sadly, we have almost reached a tipping point when there will be no return...

UK. PLSA sets out key issues for defined contribution reform

In the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association’s (PLSA) regular column for Professional Pensions, the trade body’s director of policy and advocacy takes a look at defined contribution (DC) reform. It is hugely positive that pensions minister Laura Trott has wasted no time in setting out her vision for DC pensions. Her recent support for the Gullis Bill on reform of auto-enrolment to increase the amount of saving into workplace pensions is an important step towards achieving pensions adequacy and has a...

UK. Should pensions tax relief be used to fund care costs?

Getting more people into work and keeping them there for longer was a thread that ran throughout last month’s Spring Budget. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt focused on childcare, state benefit reform and elements of the pensions tax relief system, such as the abolition of the lifetime allowance (LTA). But there was nothing more to add on the funding of social care. Last year’s Autumn Statement, which confirmed the proposed £86,000 cap on social care costs in England would be delayed by...

PensionBee. Annual Report and Financial Statements 2022

By PensionBee PensionBee is a leading online pension provider in the UK, with a mission to make pensions simple, so that everyone can look forward to a happy retirement. We are a direct-to-consumer financial technology company with approximately 183,000 Invested Customers and £3.0bn of Assets under Administration (‘AUA’) as at 31 December 2022 (2021: 117,000 Invested Customers and  £2.6bn of AUA). We deliver a leading customer proposition to pension holders in the UK defined contribution pensions market, catering for the mass...

UK. TPR authorises first CDC pension scheme

The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has authorised the UK’s first collective defined contribution (CDC) pension scheme. CDC schemes provide an alternative to traditional defined benefit (DB) and defined contribution (DC) pension schemes and see member and employer contributions pooled in a collective fund from which an aspired to pension income for life is drawn. The pooling of longevity and investment risks makes CDC schemes more resilient to market shocks. Yesterday (April 13), the regulator published a list of authorised CDC schemes on its...

UK. Government body calls on London pension fund to divest fossil fuel holdings

Transport for London Pension Fund, London, should divest its holdings in fossil fuel companies and develop an annual report on performance against net-zero targets, according to calls by a London governmental body. The Greater London Authority committee, which oversees the London Pensions Fund Authority and TfL Pension Fund, launched an investigation as part of a review into its pension funds' investments and costs. The pension funds had about £22 billion ($27.1 billion) in combined assets as of March 31, 2022. In...