All Pensions articles – Page 142
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Article
Standard Life and Punter Southall launch auto-enrolment product for SMEs
Standard Life and Punter Southall Defined Contribution Consulting (PSDCC) have teamed up to provide an auto-enrolment product for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).The agreement allows PSDCC to offer SMEs Standard Life’s Group Flexible Retirement plans as an off-the-shelf auto-enrolment product.Employers will receive:Access to Standard Life’s auto-enrolment tools.Access to online resources ...
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Article
Opt out rules upset Barbon's auto-enrolment plan
EXCLUSIVE: Barbon Insurance will postpone the date on which it automatically enrols staff into its pension scheme in order to comply with the Pensions Act 2008 on opting out.The employer’s staging date is 1 November 2013 and it was hoping to use its benefits window between August to September in ...
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Article
GeoPost UK prepares for auto-enrolment
EXCLUSIVE: GeoPost UK is encouraging employees to join its group personal pension (GPP) ahead of its auto-enrolment staging date of 1 August 2013.Under the banner ‘Last Chance Saloon’, the logistics organisation invited all employees who were not members of the pension scheme to join the GPP, which matches employee contributions ...
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Article
High level of understanding around retirement options
Almost three-quarters (73%) of pre-retirees and 89% of annuity purchasers are comfortable with the level of understanding of their retirement options, according to research by the Association of British Insurers (ABI).Its research, Retirement choices: baseline to measure effectiveness of the code of conduct, included 500 pre-retirement telephone interviews with members ...
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Article
Lafarge appoints fiduciary manager for DB pension
Lafarge has appointed Towers Watson as fiduciary manager for the investment requirements of its £2.6 billion defined benefit (DB) pension scheme.The appointment follows a formal selection process undertaken by the trustees of the scheme and with advice from KPMG and Sackers.KPMG’s remit was to advise Lafarge on the various approaches ...
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Article
SAP to outsource benefits system ahead of auto-enrolment
EXCLUSIVE: SAP is to outsource its employee benefits system to enable it to cope with its pensions auto-enrolment duties.The technology organisation, which will reach its staging date in September 2013, made the decison to switch from an in-house benefits system to one provided by Capita Employee Benefits, following its annual ...
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Article
Pension members inactive about investment management
One in five (21%) respondents take an active role in managing their pension investments, according to research by Capita Employee Benefits. The research, conducted among 3,000 employees, also found that 27% of respondents have opted for the default funds provided by their employer.The research also found:52% of respondents do not ...
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Article
E.On raises pensions take up to 92% after auto-enrolment
EXCLUSIVE: E.On has increased the take up of its group personal pension (GPP) plan to 92% after a year of communicating auto-enrolment.The auto-enrolment process began for the utility business about 18 months ago, when it looked at the options it had around complying with the legislation.The utilities business decided to ...
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Article
Liability-driven pension investment increases to £446bn
Liability-driven pension investment (LDI) increased by 11% in 2012, according to research by KPMG Investment Advisory.The KPMG 2013 LDI survey, which questioned 30 institutional managers, found that LDI now covers £446 billion of pension liabilities, with 686 UK pension scheme mandates now employing LDI.However, the provision of LDI remains dominated ...
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ArticleJLT sees 9.3% average auto-enrolment opt out
EXCLUSIVE: JLT Employee Benefits has recorded a 9.3% auto-enroloment opt-out rate among its employer clients.The employee benefits adviser used BenPal, its benefits management platform, to help 50 large employers auto-enrol their employees.The organisation assessed 287,712 candidates, enrolled 11,162 employees and saw 1,037 employees opt out of their employer’s auto-enrolment pension ...
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Article
Ladbrokes pension awarded PQM
Ladbrokes has been awarded a Pension Quality Mark (PQM) for its stakeholder defined contribution (DC) pension scheme.The benchmark, awarded by the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF), is given to employers that provide good quality defined contribution (DC) pension schemes to their staff. It recognises DC schemes that have total ...
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Opinion
Pádraig Floyd: A pension warning for employers on 'pot follows member'
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has now published details of rules to govern what must happen to an employee’s pension when they leave an employer. This regulation, generally referred to as ‘pot follows member’, makes provision for any pension pots of less than £10,000 to transfer with the ...
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AnalysisKey issues for employers post auto-enrolment staging
IF YOU READ NOTHING ELSE, READ THIS…Post auto-enrolment staging date, employers must keep on top of a number of tasks to remain compliant.Having robust record-keeping and data processes in place is key.Employers must ensure they send relevant communications to their workforce at the required times.Preparing for auto-enrolment may feel like ...
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Article
Origen Investment Services to sell pensions admin businesses
Origen Investment Services is to sell its pensions administration businesses.Its specialist self-administered pensions service business is to be sold to consultancy Barnett Waddingham, while its self-invested personal pension (Sipp) business is to be transferred to Sipp provider and administrator Suffolk Life.Origen Investment Services made the decision to exit from the ...
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ArticleDisparities in local council pension fund fees
There are disparities in the fees that local council pension funds pay to their fund managers, according to research by the Financial Times (FT).The newspaper’s analysis of pension funds’ annual reports, which was conducted for the FT by consultancy Investor Data Services, revealed that some councils were paying three ...
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Opinion
Gary Moore: Consultancy charge ban will cause problems
When the Financial Services Authority (FSA) launched its retail distribution review in 2006, it promised to make sure charges for advice were transparent and fair. As a result, the FSA banned charging by commission but allowed pension plans to take consultancy charges from individuals’ pension pots as long as they ...
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Article
Debbie Lovewell: Transparency reveals concern over advice
Last month’s announcement that consultancy charging is to be banned for auto-enrolment schemes is good news for staff who, under this remuneration structure, could have seen high charges deducted from their pension pot.Along with the ban on commission for new schemes brought in by the retail distribution review, pension minister ...
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AnalysisHow transparent are benefits charging structures?
IF YOU READ NOTHING ELSE, READ THIS…Historically, commission-based and consultancy charges in the pensions market led to a lack of transparency in what employers were paying for.Now that both have been banned, with the exception of legacy commission schemes, the pensions market has moved towards a more transparent fees-based model.Adviser ...
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Article
Concerns over consultancy charge ban
Consultancy charging, introduced under the retail distribution review, which came into effect at the end of last year, enabled employers to pay an adviser for some of its pensions management work out of the employee’s or employer’s contributions to a member’s fund.Jon Dixon, head of Chase de Vere’s auto-enrolment proposition, ...
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AnalysisThe pros and cons of using lifestyle investment strategies for pension funds
IF YOU READ NOTHING ELSE, READ THIS…Lifestyle strategies progressively switch pension scheme members into bonds as they approach retirement.Although lifestyle options have done well over the past decade, this has been a consequence of rising bond markets.Providers have been devising diversified funds that are actively and tactically managed so members ...