Report
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April, 2020
TPR advises on Covid-19 contingency plans
The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has urged trustees to put appropriate monitoring and contingency plans in place to account for the financial risks of Covid-19 to their schemes. In a statement the regulator said it was “engaging with the pensions industry to understand the pressure it faces from Covid-19 and to help minimise any impact on ...
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April, 2020
Falling Gilt yields to weigh heavily on funding
Plummeting Gilt yields will likely cause further funding problems for defined benefit pension schemes, as investors pile into safe haven assets amid the Covid-19 outbreak, according to pensions consultancy Barnett Waddingham. Short-term fixed-interest Gilt yields turned negative for the first time in history in March, exacerbated by the cut in the Bank of ...
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April, 2020
LGPS trustee knowledge to be tested
Hymans Robertson has launched a national assessment to measure levels of knowledge and understanding in the local government pension scheme. The National Knowledge Assessment will provide LGPS funds with a clear insight into the knowledge levels of their key decision-makers on a national basis. The assessment will provide evidence and information to all ...
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April, 2020
Schemes ordered to test assets for climate risk
Trustees will be required to stress test their investment portfolios against a range of climate-related risks, according to provisional guidance launched by the government. An amendment to the pensions bill will give the government the power to mandate schemes to report on the potential impact of climate change and the low carbon transition on their assets ...
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April, 2020
Government soon to unveil McCloud remedies
The government is “developing proposals” to address the unlawful age discrimination identified in public sector pension schemes by the Court of Appeal in the McCloud case. Under the reforms introduced in 2015, older members could stay in their existing schemes, while newer members had to transfer to a less generous scheme. However, in 2018 the court ...
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April, 2020
PLSA urges trustees to engage on climate change
The Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA) has called upon trustees to hold companies to account on how they manage climate change risk in its updated annual Stewardship Guide and Voting Guidelines. In October, new regulations were introduced requiring trustees to understand and disclose how they include financially-material ESG factors, and ...
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April, 2020
Border to Coast builds up support for private markets
Border to Coast Pensions Partnership, one of the largest public sector pension pools in the UK, has appointed Albourne Partners to support its private markets investment programme. The pool recently launched its alternatives private markets strategies, covering infrastructure, private equity and private credit, which secured around £1.8 billion of ...
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April, 2020
Retail price index to fall 1% annually
The retail price index is due to fall by around 1% a year under proposals from the UK Statistics Authority (UKSA), as it seeks to align it with the consumer price index, including housing costs. The authority, in consultation with HM Treasury, announced that it is seeking views on potential technical issues that could arise from switching the way RPI ...
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February, 2020
MSCI unveils climate risk tool
US index provider MSCI has launched a research product enabling investors to assess the climate risk of equities and corporate bonds within their portfolios. The Climate Value-At-Risk (VaR) tool provides forward-looking and return-based valuation assessments to measure the potential impact of climate change on company valuations and help investors identify ...
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February, 2020
Pensions Bill revived in parliament
The Pensions Bill was reintroduced to the House of Lords, which aims to crack down on pensions transfer scams and strengthen reporting of defined benefit investment strategies. The bill, which was delayed by the general election, required DB trustees to set out a formal funding and investment strategy in a chair’s statement to The Pensions Regulator ...
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