Consolidation

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.

Defined benefit (DB) consolidation vehicles may be subject to a special levy if they are deemed eligible for the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) in the event of a failure.

Vehicles to promote and enable pension scheme consolidation have been accused of forgetting the policy's intention of boosting outcomes for members of sub-scale schemes.

Paul Budgen says many of the smaller providers with less resource and funding will not make it through the costly and time-consuming months ahead