Consolidation

John McAleer sets out four areas where a change in approach to managing mature pension funds could lead to better outcomes for members, trustees and sponsors.

Most respondents in this week's Pensions Buzz do not think businesses should be able suspend AE contributions if in financial distress.

The Pension Protection Fund (PPF) is consulting on proposals to charge a "risk reflective" levy for commercial defined benefit (DB) consolidation vehicles.

There will be "many flavours" of defined benefit (DB) consolidators but consolidation will only be the right answer for a minority of schemes, Alan Rubenstein says.

Lawrence Churchill has been appointed as the first chairman of defined benefit (DB) consolidator Clara's corporate board.

Coats Group has recorded a narrow defined benefit (DB) surplus of $1m (£0.8m) across its three UK schemes.

Respondents were almost evenly split in this week's Pensions Buzz on whether the Competition and Markets Authority's (CMA) remedies for the investment consultant and fiduciary management markets go far enough.

Unprecedented levels of provider consolidation means trustees must regularly monitor and assess security of members' assets, the Security of DC Assets Working Party has warned.

Any surplus generated by The Pension Superfund will be shared between members and the defined benefit (DB) consolidator's capital providers, Alan Rubenstein has said.

Respondents say it is a bad idea to state the extent member views are taken into account when setting investment strategies.