PLSA in work to convene cost disclosure template implementation group

The trade body is working with the Investment Association (IA) and the Scheme Advisory Board (SAB) of the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) to launch a body tasked with considering how cost disclosure templates can be rolled out, chairman Richard Butcher said.

The five templates created by the IDWG are expected to be published by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) over the coming weeks and, although they will be voluntary, their usage will be monitored to ensure schemes are being provided with the information they need to help assess value for money.

In his opening speech to the PLSA's annual conference in Liverpool on 17 October, Butcher, who was a member of the IDWG, said the framework would "help trustees and other investors to see the true costs of investment."

He continued: "We're expecting the FCA to publish the templates in the coming weeks, and the PLSA is actively involved in discussions with others in the industry, including the IA and the LGPS SAB, to form a new group to take this work forward.

"This will allow the market to do its magic on those costs - improving value for savers."

The IDWG templates build on the ‘slippage cost' methodology that the FCA currently requires the firms it regulates to use to disclose costs to their customers, but which has been criticised as "flawed".

The proposed templates, however, will provide additional granular information, which Butcher has previously said will help overcome the problems with the slippage method.

He also warned the industry was in danger of being in a position where "we will fail the saver and we will fail ourselves" if more effort is not undertaken to improve product design, service delivery, communication and engagement.

"We must change the way we think and work if we are to get better retirement incomes for all and the high-quality tools needed to achieve that," he said.

"We have to open our minds to the idea it's complicated for savers, that pension and lifetime savings live in a competing wider personal financial ecosystem."

He added: "We must start to see what we do through the eyes of the saver."

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• Topics
• Investment
• PLSA
• Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association
• IDWG
• INSTITUTIONAL DISCLOSURE WORKING GROUP
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• Richard Butcher
• LGPS
• Local Government Pension Scheme
• LGPS Scheme Advisory Board
• scheme advisory board
• SAB
• The Investment Association
• cost transparency
• Fee transparency
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