Alternative forms of savings
Pensions are often seen as the traditional way of saving for retirement. Recently, however, in response to Government attacks on pension tax incentives and concerns about lack of access to capital
Issue: April 2010 Author: James D Jones-Tinsley BA (Hons) FPMI DipPFS

LLMA – a traded market in longevity risk
Increasing life expectancy is generally seen as desirable for a society. However for public and private sector institutions that have promised to pay pensions, increasing life expectancies (or
Issue: April 2010 Author: Costas Yiasoumi

The future of tax relief on pension savings – does it have a future?
Government proposals for the restriction of pensions tax relief for high earners are unpopular With a general election looming, will the proposals survive? What are the main political parties’ views
Issue: April 2010 Author: David Roberts

Investment Insight – Fiduciary Management
Pension fund trustees have a fiduciary responsibility to ensure that the pension scheme’s statutory funding objective is met in a risk-controlled manner. Trustees must therefore perform three tasks:
Issue: April 2010 Author: Colin English

Pension scheme longevity swaps – easy as one, two, three?
BMW’s longevity swap has again pushed the boundary of what is possible You need to fully understand your scheme’s longevity risk before considering types of product, pricing and contract terms There
Issue: April 2010 Author: Martin Bird

Ask the Expert - Accounting
“As part of the accounts preparation process what steps should be taken to understand the valuation of assets held - in particular alternative investments such as derivatives and hedge funds? Do the
Issue: April 2010 Author: Neil Knights

Financially vulnerable – money guidance for consumers
When the Financial Services Authority (FSA) was first established back in 2000 as part of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 one of its main objectives was public awareness and in
Issue: April 2010 Author: Gary Wilson

RPC has universal appeal
Since its launch in 2002, the Retirement Provision Certificate (RPC) has grown from strength to strength. In addition to being part of the syllabus for the Advanced Diploma in Retirement Provision,
Issue: April 2010 Author: Tim Middleton

Indian Summer shone on VQ candidates’ success
In this article, Sarah Howlett, PMI’s Head of Vocational Qualifications, talks about the PMI examinations which are now being offered in India and the organisations involved tell us about their
Issue: April 2010 Author: Sarah Howlett

Raising the profile of pension scheme governance is no mean feat
The role of the trustees is one with many responsibilities but, more than that, trustees are ultimately accountable for all the decisions made about their scheme, whether those of the trustee board
Issue: April 2010 Author: Justin Wray

PMI Trustee Support – Longevity swap vs buy-in
Margaret Snowdon OBE, Operations Director at Lucida, looks at the current popularity of longevity swaps and compares the benefits with wider risk reduction strategies available at low cost.
Issue: April 2010 Author: Margaret Snowdon OBE

Actuarial and Investment Matters
It is now nearly 20 years since the Barber judgement. Since 17 May 1990, schemes have grappled with discrimination on the grounds of sex. In many areas the position is clear – you cannot have
Issue: April 2010 Author: Richard Akroyd

Legal Update
Having published its guidance on record-keeping at the beginning of last year, the regulator has decided that it needs to do more. According to its own research, the regulator admits that “there is
Issue: April 2010 Author: Simon Tyler

Consultancy and Administration Issues
The Pensions Regulator is consulting on proposals to take a tougher stance on poor record keeping and missing data for work based schemes. The consultation runs until 27 April 2010 and will probably
Issue: April 2010 Author: Dave King