Considering marital status tracing? – Think data protection

As defined benefit schemes mature, de-risk and edge ever closer to buy-out and wind up, companies and trustees are increasingly focusing on different types of risk exposure. One risk they may be looking at more closely is the risk which...

Bulk annuity contracts: Thinking about risks in risk transfer

A bulk annuity transaction is a transaction about risk.  Funding and administering a DB pension scheme involves lots of risks. A bulk annuity transaction looks to transfer some of those risks from the scheme and its sponsor to an...

Enforcing UK court judgments in Europe: is there still hope for Lugano?

At the end of the Brexit transition period, certain regulations and conventions governing jurisdiction and enforcement ceased to apply to the UK, making the process for enforcing UK court judgments in EU member states, Iceland, Norway and...

Simplification of annual benefit statements

Earlier this year, the Department of Work and Pensions (the “DWP”) published a consultation on draft regulations introducing new standard requirements for annual workplace pension benefit statements for members (excluding pensioners)...

MNT arrangements – time for a re-design?

Trustee boards are required to design and operate member nominated trustee (MNT) arrangements which are appropriate for their scheme. Many boards diligently designed arrangements back around 2006 but have made only relatively minimal...

New reasons to double down on efforts to build pension scheme cyber resilience

At a recent discussion forum on cyber risks for pension schemes, I was struck by a theme emerging from the questions being asked: that, while in the past cyber had been just another one of the risks that trustees should acknowledge, there...

Flexibility for longevity swaps in the long term

There has been a recent increase in the volume of longevity swaps being entered into by pension schemes. In 2020, the reported transaction volume for longevity swaps was judged by one consultant to be three quarters of the volume of...

New FCA/TPR “regulated advice” guidance: shades of grey

On 30 March 2021 the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Pensions Regulator (TPR) issued updated joint guidance for employers and trustees on “providing support with financial matters without needing to be subject to FCA...

Crossroads for cross-border schemes

Certain regulatory requirements in relation to cross-border arrangements have fallen away post-Brexit. More recently, the Pensions Regulator (“TPR”) has updated its guidance for cross-border occupational pension schemes following the...

Top ten tips for trustee minute taking – A lawyer’s perspective

Taking trustee meeting minutes is an art form. Quarterly trustee meetings, in particular, often tackle a wide range of technical and potentially sensitive issues. The move to video-conferencing (and the IT challenges which have come with...