The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is consulting on proposals for a redress scheme for former members of the British Steel Pension Scheme (BSPS) who were given unsuitable advice to transfer out of the scheme and suffered financial loss. The BSPS, a large defined benefit pension scheme, had to be restructured after Tata Steel faced financial … Continue Reading
On 13 April 2022, the PRA issued a statement providing an update on its approach on capital arbitrage transactions. The PRA has issued the statement as it is aware that some PRA-regulated firms have conducted, or may be considering conducting, deficit reduction transactions with their defined benefit pension schemes that are structured to limit the … Continue Reading
The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) has released a prototype of its risk management and disclosure framework for nature-related risks. The TNFD wants trustees of pension schemes to start taking action now. The framework is designed to assist companies, investors and lenders in accounting for nature-related risks and opportunities in their decision-making. In effect, the … Continue Reading
New draft regulations show that schemes have much to do to get ready for Pensions Dashboards. For master trusts and defined contribution (DC) auto-enrolment schemes the pressure is on. Dashboards are online platforms which will allow people to view information about all their pensions, including their state pensions, in one place. The Pensions Dashboards Programme … Continue Reading
On 1 February 2022, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published a letter to the European Commission providing its views on the clearing obligation for pension scheme arrangements (PSAs) and recommending the end of the current exemption for the clearing obligation with a one-year implementation period. Following its assessment, the ESMA concluded the PSAs … Continue Reading
On 14 October 2021, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a speech by its new Executive Director for Markets, Sarah Pritchard, in which she discusses the key themes for the FCA which are, partnership, priorities and future predictions. The speech is entitled ‘Partnerships, priorities and predictions for the future in the pensions market’. The FCA … Continue Reading
On 30 September 2021, the FCA published a Warning Notice Statement (21/2) in respect of Warning Notices that it had issued to three unnamed individuals on 10 August 2021 relating to their involvement in what the FCA describes as a pension scam. The FCA explained in the Warning Notice Statement that it considers that these … Continue Reading
On 4 October 2021, the FCA published Policy Statement 21/12: Assessing value for money in workplace pension schemes and pathway investments: requirements for IGCs and GAAs (PS21/12). In PS21/12 the FCA summarises the feedback received to Consultation Paper 20/9: Driving value for money in pensions and sets out final rules. The final rules will come … Continue Reading
On 16 September 2021, the Pensions Regulator and the FCA jointly issued Discussion Paper 21/3: Driving Value for Money in defined contribution pensions (DP21/3). In DP21/3 the regulators discuss developing a common framework for measuring value for money (VFM) in defined contribution (DC) pension schemes. The aim of the two regulators is to drive a … Continue Reading
The Pension Schemes Act 2021 (the Act) has introduced broad new criminal offences going far beyond the ‘reckless’ and ‘unscrupulous’ behaviour which the offences were originally envisaged to deter[1]. Whilst the Pensions Regulator (TPR) has today released a draft policy on how it will use its new criminal sanction powers (the TPR policy), some uncertainty … Continue Reading
