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08:45 –09:15
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Delegate registration
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09:15 – 09:25
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Chair’s opening remarks
Stephanie Baxter, Deputy Editor, Professional Pensions
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09:25 – 09:50
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Opening keynote: An update from the Regulator
Louise Sivyer, Policy Manager, Regulatory Policy Directorate,The Pensions Regulator
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09:55 – 10:20
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The role of pensions in financial wellbeing
Much as we may all think of pensions being at the centre of finances, in reality Aon's research shows that an individual's wider financial situation has a huge impact on both their capacity to save and also their expectations of pension provision. We believe that both trustees and employers need to take this wider financial wellbeing into account when designing and implementing their pension scheme solutions. Benefit designs act as a significant behavioural anchor on how much people think they should save. Changing patterns of retirement and retirement benefits, potentially change the support that employees need.
Steven Leigh, Senior Consultant, Aon
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10:25 – 10:50
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Diversification in DC
Historically DC portfolios have relatively undiversified equity allocations, potentially due to the 0.75% charge cap. Factor investing has become more prominent in recent years as a key benefit of utilising factor indices is that they offer transparency and lower fees than active management. There has been a wide gap in fees between passively tracking the benchmark and employing active managers with the aim of outperforming. However, factor investing can narrows this gap, this session will consider whether DC schemes that have opted for passive management should consider whether a multi-factor portfolio better suits their needs to reduce volatility and create better outcomes for members.
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10:50 – 11:15
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Morning networking break
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11:15– 11:40
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Illiquid investment for DC schemes
DC members invest for the long term which makes them ideal candidates for illiquid investments, which offer not just the potential of an ‘illiquidity premium’ but the ability to diversify and access alternative asset classes. The operational framework that has built up to support UK DC pension schemes is not generally supportive of illiquid investments, being centred around the provision of daily liquidity for members. Limited demand from DC schemes has translated to limited pressure on providers and fund managers to develop new and improved solutions. This session will explore some of the options available to DC schemes looking to broaden their illiquid investments.
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11:45 – 12:10
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Is responsible investment just the latest fad?
Responsible investments have been high on the agenda for the last few years, but there is now a myriad of terms, often used interchangeably, to describe the increased awareness of corporate governance failings and environmental concerns. This session will go through the difference between responsible investing and ethical investing, understanding and analysing the information crucial to the long-term sustainability of an investment and how responsible investing can engage younger members.
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12:15– 12:40
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Aligning pensions administration
Administration in the pensions industry is facing huge challenges, there is a strong focus on data security in administration and consolidating the high volumes is a challenge. Pension scheme administrators can struggle in obtaining accurate data from scheme employers, ensuring that robust methods of collecting data are in place including online solutions with auto verifications are built in as well as reviewing data accuracy. Good governance also means the necessity to safeguard pension funds against data security breaches and ever increasing threat of fraud and identity theft as Action Fraud reveals more than £197m was lost to scams in 2018.
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12:40– 13:40
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Lunch
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13:40 – 14:05
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Achieving independent governance
Scheme governance is being increasingly scrutinised more closely by the Pensions Regulator. Since April 2015, trustees of occupational pension schemes providing DC benefits have been required to prepare an annual governance statement signed by the chair of trustees. The content of the statement is being extended further requiring details on investment charges and core transaction costs to be provided, and for the information to be made available free of charge on a publicly accessible website.
- Increased governance requirements, complying with the Chair's Statement requirements
- Increasing governance costs
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14:10 – 14:35
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Auto enrolment
Auto enrolment contributions will increase further to 8% in April 2019, when contribution rates rose to 5% there was little impact on opt-out rates, will we see this continue. Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has revealed 36% of employees do not know that they have been automatically enrolled into a workplace pension. While inertia has led to the success of over 10 million people saving into a workplace pension should we rely on this alone? This session will consider the implications of the 8% rise in AE contributions, how best to engage your work force and the pitfalls of pensions communication.
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14:35– 14:55
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Afternoon networking break
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14:55 – 15:20
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Afternoon keynote: Case study – successful engagement
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15:25 – 15:50
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Decumulation challenges and potential solutions
The financial landscape for future retirees will most likely be more challenging, requiring different savings and spending behaviours. The post-retirement drawdown investment options are important as they directly influence the default fund investment strategies adopted by pension schemes. However, volatility has a significant impact on member outcomes and the sustainability of the drawdown pension. This session will consider the challenges schemes face when targeting drawdown and the potential solutions.
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15:50 – 16:00
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Closing remarks from the chair
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