Running a delayed service

Technology remains the biggest obstacle for life offices in maintaining a valuable customer service, but it may have to struggle further before catching up with digital developments

Part of the process

Adding value to an existing book goes way beyond customers and revenue, with back office efficiency playing a crucial part in maximising costs

Fine-tuning the revenue generator

Increasing the value of existing business and customer retention are hot topics in the life and pensions industry, and companies need to develop a strategy to enable them to achieve one without losing sight of the other

A pillar of strength and security

Quality and high standards are the watchwords of the Swiss, and their pension system is no different, but is it a sustainable structure that has been built to withstand issues of reform, asks Gregor Watt

Introducing the pension scientist

From September it will be possible to study for an MSc in pensions at London’s Cass Business School. David Blake (pictured) and Bernard Casey outline the programme

The outsourcing time bomb

Many local authority pension schemes are not aware of the investment risks to which they are exposed by companies who now supply outsourced services to them. David Davison reports

Breaking into the mainstream

The reality of an all-inclusive, technology-based aggregation service to view financial portfolios is still a long way off, but progress has been made in some previously untapped areas, says Peter Brutin

A-day interest in section 32

The realisation that A-day is just round the corner has sparked renewed interest in the section 32 market but, says Pádraig Floyd, this does not mean that this route is the right move for everyone

— Brendan Barber, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress

Compulsion is part of the answer

The TUC’s Brendan Barber talks to Pádraig Floyd about the state of pensions and how the unions can help

Are you covered for catastrophes?

Obtaining adequate life insurance cover for employees has become more difficult since the events of September 11, but there are a number of steps employers can take, says Will McNaughton

Lie back and think of England

If the current trend of low birth rates is continued then there could be potentially significant problems for the pensions industry – and employers in particular – that perhaps need to be tackled now, says Claire Hobro