Does the pensions industry have a problem in communicating with the government, on pensions policy and legislation? It is a fair question to ask, given the current and expected upheaval that schemes face.

The government’s estimates of the cost of its own pensions forecasts are inaccurate and implausible and rather than spending less on pensions in the future, this must become a priority, say the Liberal Democrats.

The formation of a cross-party group that will debate and comment on local government issues is set to become one of the largest and most significant of the registered All-Party Parliamentary Groups.

Less than one in 10 job adverts mention pensions, despite strong pressure from the government and trade unions on employers to do so.

The pensions debate should be less about the nuts and bolts of specific pensions than how we really want to live when we get older and how we are going to pay for it, says Stephen Timms

The Society of Pension Consultants (SPC) has called for HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) to urgently reconsider its tax relief rules on employer contributions into pension funds.

A story in last month’s PM (A-day to benefit early leavers, p15) incorrectly stated that from April 2006, any employee who has been a member of an occupational scheme for more than three months and more than a year away from normal retirement date is entitled to a deferred benefit.

Invesco has withdrawn its institutional funds from the monthly performance survey by Russell Mellon CAPS.

Midas Capital has announced returns for its growth fund at 23% and its income fund at 21% over the last 12 months. The firm says it is focused on producing good results from their flagship portfolios.

Pension Funds and their Advisers 2005, AP Information Services, www.apinfo.co.uk

The Raising Standards of Pensions Administration (RSPA) campaign has come under fire from third-party administrators (TPAs) with some speculating that it is a ‘witch-hunt’ and others branding the campaign ‘disappointing’ and ‘not good enough’.

The latest report on the size of UK pension fund deficits shows there has been a modest improvement over the last 12 months, but companies are now struggling to cope with ever increasing liabilities.

FRS 17, the new accounting standard that all UK companies have to adopt for their pension liabilities from this year, is not as rigid as was first thought and can be open to some interpretation by actuaries.

State Street Global Advisors (SSGA) has been selected by Staffordshire County Council to manage a £340m global passive equity mandate.

Winterthur Life has launched a new online pensions simplification tool that was developed with Pensions and Actuarial Services to allow independent financial advisers (IFAs) to calculate how the lifetime allowance may affect a client’s position.

Standard Life is implementing Transversal’s Metafaq E-customer service solution into its online offering for independent financial advisers (IFAs).

What happens under the new tax regime when a registered scheme member reaches age 75 but cannot be traced?

More than one third of the UK’s small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs) are unaware that pensions legislation is due to change on 6 April 2006, according to Tenon Forum research.

I was recently asked whether the costs associated with pension simplification are significant. This feels like a fairly banal question, but it makes me wonder whether there is a general appreciation of the costs involved.

Independent Trustee Services (ITS) has welcomed the draft proposals by the Department of Work and Pensions to allow professional trustees to be excluded from the 50% calculation for the required percentage of member nominated trustees (MNT).

Residential property is not going to be a suitable investment for most self-invested personal pension investors despite the current waves of interest it is generating, according to independent financial advisers (IFAs).

For valuations with effective dates after 22 September 2005, the minimum funding requirement (MFR) will no longer apply. Rather, trustees and employers will be required to devise their own scheme specific approaches to funding and the correction of deficits. For many, this will represent one of the heavier burdens placed on them in terms of knowledge and understanding.

Scottish Equitable has welcomed two announcements from the Revenue on the simplified tax regime for pensions from next April, following industry lobbying.

Time moves on and we appear to be making some progress – well of sorts.

Pensions Management is delighted to announce that the guest speaker and host for this year’s PM Scheme Awards on October 21st will be BBC business editor Jeff Randall.

We are already had a few enquiries about this next PM Provider Awards, so suffice to say it will be running in the first quarter of 2006 and will be bigger and better than ever.

The winners and commended entrants in this year’s PM Admin & Service Awards are announced this month in the separate supplement with this issue of PM.

Lib Dem pensions spokesman David Laws talks to Gregor Watt about how his vision for state provision differs from the other two major parties and why the current state of affairs seems to be stifling the debate

With the demise of defined benefit and the rise of defined contribution schemes, what is needed is a method for those in DC schemes to build up some guaranteed level of pension during their working life, says John Nugée

Tom McPhail examines why investment freedom and the development of Sipps as an alternative to personal pensions and stakeholder will mean big business for providers

As the new liability-driven investment world takes hold, the old misnomer of the hotshot managers working in equities rather than bonds has been turned on its head, says Craig Hurt

In the run-up to A-day, the pensions industry has not come to a consensus as to whether outsourcing will benefit. Ruth Emery looks at the state of play in the third-party administration market

Any potential users of transition management would be advised to disregard the common assumption that only the investment banking platforms that face potential conflicts of interest, says Tim Wilkinson

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

Global custodians have shown over the last year that they are more than simply a safe pair of hands, they can also offer a variety of other services, says Gregor Watt

Global custodians have shown over the last year that they are more than simply a safe pair of hands, they can also offer a variety of other services, says Gregor Watt

ABN Amro Mellon Global Securities Services is dedicated to being the

pre-eminent provider of global custody and value-added services to the financial institutions marketplace. We are recognised as a leader in service, quality and client satisfaction by our clients, including many of the UK’s most prominent pension funds. Our clients gain competitive advantage by leveraging our highly sophisticated and fully integrated systems, thereby benefiting from increased efficiencies in their costs and controls delivered throughout the trade cycle. Since our launch in 1998 we have exceeded expectations in terms of client satisfaction, service performance anad sales results and regularly achieve leading positions in the industry’s keynote surveys.

Well, here we go again. I’ve just read in The Times that a Baptist church in the Lake District has placed a notice in its church magazine inviting people to a meeting that ‘will be gin with a prayer’. That should do wonders for the average attendance figures I would think. This was reported in The Times because this particular gaffe has just been voted number one, no less, in the Parish Pump Misprint Award for 2005.

Jason Shaw examines three determinations made by the ombudsman concerning statements made to members in letters and booklets and calculation errors

Peter Williams answers this month’s G60 questions on the main post A-day simplification rules and explains issues surrounding residential property investments, as posed by the following case study

Walker Yule looks at the new accounting standard due to begin in January 2005 and how it will affect company profits and reward and performance structures put in place for staff

Constraints need to be agreed and revisited often, and by loosening the constraints on the portfolio’s active risk portion, you can improve performance with little change to the overall risk level, says
Oliver Bolitho

If you’re going to be buying an annuity, time is of the essence, says
Ken Wrench. Occupational pension schemes and providers may take months to send pension fund transfer values, plus cooling-off periods must be observed

Rob Harper has joined Hymans Robertson as a partner and senior actuary to head up the firm’s Birmingham office.

London Pensions Fund Authority (LPFA) chief executive Peter Scales has added sitting on the board of trustees of the Pre-Retirement Association (PRA) to his numerous roles in the pensions industry.

Hewitt has seen a number of changes in the last few months with senior investment consultant Sean Daykin leaving for Kuwait, and the appointment of Christine Farquhar who will lead the fixed income fund manager research team.

You’re probably reading this with a heavy heart. The summer is finally over, Big Brother has finished, and you’re back into full swing at work. Of course, there is still some excitement left before the long dark days draw in. The football season has started again and at time of going to press, the England cricket team were making a decent fist of things in the Ashes.

Advisers must start thinking about section 32 policies (s32) to protect tax-free cash entitlements, or they risk getting into “administration bottlenecks” next year in the run-up to A-day, warned Scottish Equitable.

Global IFA Montpelier Group has completed its joint venture with Montague Capital to form Montpelier Fund Management.

Wrap platforms are developing distinct styles and advisers are slowly warming to the idea of using them, according to Defaqto research.

More than £2bn of investors’ money has been lost in the top 10 worst performing funds over the past three years, according to analysis from independent financial advisers Dennehy Weller & Co.

The research focussed on identifying the failures among the largest and most popular funds with values of more than £400m invested in the UK stock market.

New regulations designed to prevent the operations of slum landlords may discourage investors from buying property for their children during their college years.

A property that houses more than three unrelated people, is over three storeys high or has five or more tenants living in it, will now need to be licensed.

A licence for five years will be costed according to the number of habitable rooms, which includes bedrooms, dining rooms and living rooms, but excludes kitchens and bathrooms.

The co-founder of Investor Intelligence and Mortgage Intelligence is launching another marketing network – this time for advisers specialising in pension advice to high net worth clients.

Midas Capital’s CF Midas Balanced Growth fund and Balanced Income fund have become linked to the Canada Life International Offshore Delta product. This means that The Canada Life Marketing Group is the first insurance distributor to make the two CF Midas funds available through both its offshore and onshore platforms. The multi-asset funds target strong absolute returns without taking undue risk.

In spite of the current frenzy of interest surrounding self-invested personal pensions (Sipps) and investment in residential property after A-day, most IFAs believe that this will only be an appropriate for a small number of high net worth clients.

More of the larger insurance companies may be considering a reversal of outsourcing policies and bring administration of their pensions back inhouse.

The Isle of Man has seen a sharp increase in managed funds and banking deposits. The total net asset value of funds under management in collective investment schemes increased by 41.5% during the year to 31 March 2005. There was also a 17% net increase in the number of funds managed or administered from the island.

The benefits of using equity release from residential property to maximise pensions post-A-day has left industry experts divided.

The estates of investors who die while in income drawdown may face full inheritance tax (IHT) liability under proposed regulations from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).

The arrival of A-day should usher in a new era of closer working relationships between the financial planning community and other professions

Equity release seems to have weathered the storm of bad press to emerge as a valued addition to the financial services industry

The fund management industry has, over a number of years, successfully staved off any official inquiries into the level of fees charged to clients, however given the level of performance of some of these funds, something needs to be done to benefit the investor, says James Anderson

Pension simplification will come into effect in April 2006. David Trenner looks at what it will mean, and what clients should be doing (and not doing) in advance of the changes

Simplification will hit the pensions administration industry

particularly hard, and as Sipps become a mainstream solution post A-day, choosing a provider with the correct administration solution will become increasingly important, says Robert Hudson

Although in the wider role of administering a Sipp, interest paid on cash deposits is low down the list, it is something that

administrators and advisers need to consider, says Pádraig Floyd

If a financial planning practice is to modernise it must put in place an effective fee-charging structure, says Nick Cann

Entrepreneurial nature is generally in the blood for high net worth individuals, so a platform to identify early stage investment opportunities is particularly appealing for this type of client, says David Rose

A recent securitisation by the BBC on its new Scottish headquarters has shown that trusts – around for centuries – are still a viable vehicle for finance-raising, says Geoffrey Fuller

Merrill Lynch Investment Managers’ Martin Andrew has left to join Close Asset Management (CAM) as head of private clients.

Belgravia Asset Management has appointed James English to help drive its sales and marketing team as part of the firm’s continuing expansion.

Robert Kyprianou is set to become the chief executive officer of Axa Framlington, following the decision by Axa Investment Managers (Axa IM) to buy Framlington Group.

Wealth management group St James’s Place Capital (SJPC) has made two new appointments in the shape of Robin Chatterton and Paul Wilson.

Watson Wyatt has appointed Jürgen Heiny and Zeljko Tipuric, both from Feri Institutional Management, to its investment consulting

REVIEWER: Anna Sofat managing director, thinc destini

REVIEWER: Kevin Tooze director, equal partners

REVIEWER: Peter Fisher director, NHFA

In the last 12 months wrap products have really come of age,

showing their potential to manage a broad spectrum of assets across a range of different tax structures, says Pádraig Floyd

Group personal pensions

Historically, one of the major faults of the life and pensions industry has been poor administration.

Life offices were run with sales very much as a first and sometimes only aim. Administration, or dealing with customers once they had been sold a product, was very much an afterthought. Success was built around meeting sales targets and growing the business, not in providing a good after-sales service.

This approach was widespread, but it appears to be slowly changing. For one thing, life and pension companies are realising that the old approach was short-term in nature and damaging to the long-term health of their company.

This year’s PM Admin and Service Awards saw an outstanding crop of entries, making the job of picking the winners very tricky, as Matthew Craig explains

In the post A-day pensions market, it is not hard to see that interest in esoteric assets will heavily outweigh actual investments made, but advisers still need to be able to navigate through the complex tax maze, says Andy Bell

If providers want to offer a better service, there is no point looking for the all-singing, all-dancing system if you haven’t even got the foundations right, says Jenny Jackson

As the A-day deadline starts to loom large, John Moret looks back at the development of the Sipp market to see what lessons might be learned

Pensions really don’t need to be so confusing, and there is a way through the labyrinth which some providers are beginning to discover. Nigel Aston points the way with three golden rules

Ian Colquhoun considers how DC providers can help employees value, arguably, the best employee benefit a member of staff can get – their company pension

The group was founded in 1995 and has developed such that the value of assets under our trusteeship exceeds £2bn. We now have 120 staff.

Some other points of note:

• l We never compromise on service to advisers and clients
• l We are the third largest, and one of the fastest growing, Sipp/SSAS administrators in the UK
• l We do not try to be all things to all people
• l We are specialist pension administrators and do not compete with our introducers
• l We have no need for so called ‘Chinese walls’
• l We offer a credible long-term alternative to traditional insurance companies
• l We are truly independent
• l We are here to stay

AXA’s commitment and understanding of the UK corporate pensions marketplace has been built up over many years of investment and scheme administration experience. Heavy investment has enabled AXA to offer a wide range of group pensions through our single platform and supporting on-line solutions.

The experienced corporate benefit solutions team have a dedicated and award winning infrastructure designed to work with consultants and their clients to provide bespoke solutions from acquisition to installation. They have the expertise and knowledge to help plan and implement a successful bespoke communication strategies that provides choice and flexibility in a way that both employers and employees can understand.

When it comes to service GE Life will deliver. With an outstanding record of service achievement we believe this is where we can really make a huge difference to financial advisers and customers alike. We even offer a service commitment on the payment of tax-free cash under drawdown plans where we will pay £250 compensation for late payment – we’re that confident. Our view is simple; it is excellent service that can really make a company stand out from the crowd.

Being part of GE, one of the world’s most respected companies (as voted by The Financial Times from 1997 to 2004) gives GE Life values, ethics and integrity to deliver on our promises.

Suffolk Life is a pensions provider and administration specialist with a primary focus on Sipps.

We are highly experienced in dealing with a wide range of Sipp permitted investments including the acquisition and administration of property investments within a Sipp portfolio.

We currently look after over 5,000 Sipps, including more than 900 properties, making us one of the leading providers in our field.