Wrap providers have come under fire for not allowing in-specie transfers off their platforms, forcing customers to liquidate their assets to cash for wanting to move to another provider.

Swiss Re has won the race to acquire GE Life, marking its largest Admin ReSM deal to date.

Asian equities seem to be the flavour of 2006 for UK pension schemes, with exposure almost doubling in the last 12 months.

Prudential has been rocked by the exit of two prominent managers, leaving Nick Prettejohn, chief executive of the firm’s UK life and pensions business, to take the reins over the bulk annuity operation and manage existing policies.

The government has come under fire for repeating its belief that the current means-testing system is completely compatible with personal accounts.

Focus Capital, an independent specialist emerging markets asset manager, is to launch in Q1 2007. It will invest exclusively in emerging markets by allocating between equity, bond, cash and hedge funds through a fund of funds approach.

The industry has broadly welcomed the department of work and pensions’ (DWP) consultation period on the age discrimination regulations, but it insists there is still a long way to go before the regulations are workable.

A decision by the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) to instruct a review of risk scores has seen savings of up to 94% among Aon Consulting’s clients.

Capita Hartshead is to become one of only three administration companies authorised to administer the new Police Pension Scheme. The company is to administer the Gwent Police pensions scheme from its Banstead office together with the Norfolk, Merseyside and Cumbria police pension schemes.

The popularity of property investment has been growing steadily in the last few years, with a new property fund advised by Strutt and Parker Real Estate Financial Services (SPREFS) launched, promising property tax mitigation and total returns of between 10% and 15% per annum.

The Pension Regulator’s updated guidance on providing lump sum death benefits has met with mixed reviews from the industry.

GD Tancred Financial Services has been publicly censured by the Financial Services Authority for not explaining the risks of income withdrawal for clients with pension pots of less than £100,000. The firm will now only permit new income withdrawal after a qualified independent person has signed it off.

The Pension Protection Fund (PPF) is to radically adjust its investment strategy by adopting a liability-driven approach, and branching out into different assets besides bonds.

Regulation of self-invested personal pensions (Sipps) could force smaller providers out of business and providing point of sale information about asset charges will be very problematic, experts have said.

If you thought you could receive a widow’s pension after killing your husband, think again. After stabbing her husband to death with a kitchen knife on Boxing Day 1998, Carol Glover challenged a decision by Staffordshire police to withhold her widow’s pension. The court of appeal finally dismissed the case, saying one could not acquire a consequential benefit after having unlawfully killed.

In the first year of its new format, the inaugural Pensions Management Technology, Administration and Service (TAS) Awards was held on October 5, 2006 in the sumptuous and elegant ballroom of the Sheraton Park Lane Hotel.

I’ve just read an interesting story in the paper about a lady in Addlestone, Surrey who had a bit of a problem with her car. What happened was that the battery in her key fob went on the blink and she had to replace it, but after that she just couldn’t get her car to start again.

Did you know that young people could increase their financial wealth by as much as £60,000 by the time they reach 60, if they had access to good advice on how to manage their money?

The PM Start Saving Now campaign has finally made its way to Whitehall for James Purnell, minister for pension reform, to cast his eyes on the winning TV commercial and the poll results.

UK investors are not sufficiently informed about the impact investment allocation has on long-term retirement plans, according to Fidelity International’s retirement savings survey.

Age discrimination is one of the buzz phrases around companies at the moment, since it was announced that the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 would come into force on October 1, 2006.

The government’s consultation process on making changes to contracting out and protected rights closed in October, and its suggestions have been widely welcomed by the industry.

Women face a three-fold problem in retirement as not only do they live longer and have less pension wealth but they also plan to retire earlier.

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) recently published its first list of qualifying recognised overseas pension schemes (or QROPS for short). This is important as, under the post April 5, 2006 rules, a member of a UK-registered scheme who wishes to transfer their benefits to an overseas scheme may only do so if the receiving scheme is a QROPS.

Back in July, PM launched a campaign to measure industry opinions on pension reform, and to run a competition for media agencies to create a TV commercial that would encourage the general public to save more. Ruth Emery announces the results as shown to minister for pensions reform, James Purnell

Jason Shaw looks at recent cases involving conflicting statements contained in a scheme’s booklet and its trust deed and rules, and loss as a result of delays

Inactivity in credit markets means fund managers have to pull all the stops out to deliver any performance over the benchmark. Jamie Grant at Axa Investment Managers explains how to use default swaps and CDOs to achieve this

It is important for trustees to have a comprehensive understanding of both DB and DC schemes. The TKU exams are just the start of the focus which has come to bear on their abilities, says Graham Durgan

Welcome to the results supplement for the Pensions Management Awards 2006.

The PM Awards is the highlight of the occupational pensions calendar and recognises the high standards that UK pension schemes achieve as part of doing their day-to-day jobs.

Standards were generally very high, with some exemplary submissions across the board from a small number of schemes.

Pension funds may appoint separate, specialist managers for UK equities and overseas equities, for corporate bonds or high-yield bonds, or for different types of the so-called alternative assets

Really good use of technology was rather thin on the ground. It is no longer any good just to have a website, it has to be a useful tool for communicating with members

As a founder of the Pension Reform Group, he has been responsible for driving the pensions debate forward and more recently he has campaigned for those who lost their pension funds when their employers went down the pan

This isn’t just about LDI and much like the benefit implementation category, we’re not awarding the bravest or simply the newest ideas. These innovations must be based on solid thinking and be suitable for the type of scheme that is implementing them

With investment issues, changes in legislation and greater use of technology in today’s world, these schemes have plenty to think about, but this year’s crop of entries showed that a fair number are rising to the challenge

The following areas were considered in this award: administration; communication; investment; governance; use of IT and special projects

The judges were looking for something over and above they might expect to see in a well run scheme. The submissions showed that there were many achieving this, but few that could show they had gone the extra mile

The award is meant to recognise schemes where the trustees have carefully thought through the purpose of their company scheme benefits, their resources, the workforce and how best to implement the new benefit arrangements

Whatever the message the scheme was trying to get across, the judges were looking for clear, relevant and incisive communications material, and in particular, schemes which could demonstrate creative and imaginative ways of communicating complex information to members

The key to winning this award is to demonstrate that the communication material provided is easy to use and easy to understand by all sections of the membership, irrespective of their existing pensions knowledge

Most of the entries could demonstrate that the day-to-day elements of good administration were executed efficiently and with the minimum of fuss. It was showing how they had done that little bit more that undid many of the submissions

The winner will be an individual who has demonstrated imagination, vision and leadership for the benefit of the broader pensions industry and for having ‘gone the extra mile’ in the service of his or her members

The clinching factor is always that extra something, whether it be its overall service or dedication to its membership, which sets the scheme apart from the rest of the competition

We at Pensions Management offer our congratulations to all the winners and sincere thanks to all entrants for their efforts.

Each and every scheme has placed itself upon a pedestal by having the confidence to throw open the doors and have its practices and processes placed under the microscope.

Our thanks also go to our sponsors, without whom these awards and the annual event would not be possible.

Scheme of the year

Working towards a clearer future is Tony Moore’s goal. He believes that with forward planning and greater transparency within the industry, there is nothing that cannot be achieved, says Ruth Emery

DC schemes offer a wealth of fund choices to their members, however, when the majority take the default lifestyle option, maybe that’s where managers should be focusing, says Lesley Carline

Marna Whittington has had a long and exceptional career, working hard and playing hard, but still finding time to come back from retirement to lead a major investment company. She speaks to Antoinette Odoi

Matthew Craig, head of editorial, online pensions projects, FT Business: Where is the UK life and pensions market at the moment? Are we now at a stage where outsourcing is part of everyone’s strategy, or are some companies still coming to terms with it?

Risk management is becoming an important tool, which every manager should have under their belt, as regulation continues to encroach upon the industry, says Phil Boyle

The age discrimination laws have now come into effect, and it’s time to see whether or not their predicted effects will be as problematic and widespread as is believed

Group Sipps are being touted as the be-all and end-all to this form of investment, as they allow investors the possibility of a greater choice of options in the future

Who would have thought it? Annuities have become such an exciting

1. Consumer choice has been widened by the additional options now available to individuals looking for alternatives to a standard annuity. This has led to increased press and media comment which has, in turn, increased clients’ knowledge of what is available and OMO is certainly more widely understood. An increased number of clients are utilising the facility, whereas previously they would blindly accept whatever figures were produced by their pension provider – mainly due to the fact many providers did not bring OMO to their attention in order to retain their business. A-day has certainly served to educate the general public in this area.
2. If the government succeeds in restricting ASP to its originally intended target area, this will mean that individuals will have no option but to purchase an annuity at age 75. However, the increased options in the annuity market, for example value protection, will still give clients a wider choice than they previously had. It depends on what the government does to close this perceived ‘loophole’ in the A-day legislation as to what effect this will have on annuity and ASP holders – if it is withdrawn altogether there will certainly be a demand for more flexible annuity products and this can only be good for policyholders as a whole.
3. This will increase, leading to enhanced efficiency and greater turnaround of cases, which can only be good for both adviser and client and, indeed, provider. The majority of cases should be able to be electronically underwritten leaving only the more obscure and/or complicated cases to be dealt with manually. The major benefit to advisers and clients of electronic underwriting is that an annuity quotation for an impaired and/or enhanced case should be able to be provided quicker, perhaps via the provider’s website – this will lead to greater efficiency on the sales process which can only benefit the consumer and the adviser.
4. Wider range of medical conditions being considered for enhancement, and perhaps individual underwriting extended to include illnesses which may have a smaller impact on morbidity. Providers will also look to differentiate themselves by offering enhanced annuities for a wider variety of illnesses, which would not currently qualify for an enhancement. I can see an increased number of general annuity providers.

1. We are only just starting to see new products entering the market which have picked up on the increased flexibility post A-day. By definition, flexibility will increase options and therefore complicate the decision making process for those individuals converting their pension fund to an income through the purchase of an annuity. The understanding of annuities and use of OMO is not as great as it should be. One of the barriers that exists is the cost to an adviser of advising a client and facilitating the purchase of the annuity. This is fairly constant regardless of fund size and hence it is not economically viable to advise clients with low pension fund values unless he charges a fee. Clients are unlikely to be prepared to pay such a fee.
2. ASP will only be suitable for a very small proportion of individuals. Under ASP, there will be inheritance tax due on the funds and the beneficiaries will not have cash but an increase in their pension fund, which may make them less reliant on the state. For these reasons, banning ASP is unnecessary and may be damaging by discouraging individuals to save towards their retirement. The focus should be on encouraging people to save towards their retirement. Even though ASP is unlikely to be widely used, removing this facility is likely to continue the apathy toward pensions.
3. As we have seen with other products, efficiencies can be achieved through electronic underwriting. However, underwriting is complex, especially when it is trying to establish the impact of medical conditions on an individual’s life expectancy. Hence, electronic underwriting is only likely to split out the applicants who may be able to benefit from enhanced rates and those that definitely cannot benefit. In our view, the requirement for doctor’s reports and medicals will still be necessary to determine the rate the annuity company is prepared to offer.
4. The innovations and new annuity products expected are: value protected annuities where the annuity provider guarantees to pay out the entire purchase price as income, regardless of whether the annuitant survives; hybrid annuities which have an element of the guarantee of the conventional annuity but retain some investment element, and annuities that offer greater flexibility on how and when the income is paid.

1. The ability to purchase value protected annuities has opened up an avenue that must be considered by clients. In theory they go some way towards dealing with a major concern of clients – the loss of funds when they die. It’s difficult to see whether the new types of annuity will really offer a better alternative to ASP/USP. Impaired life business is becoming more readily available with some providers offering more streamlined processes. Many clients are still failing to take up OMO. A-day has had little impact on this. It will require a continuous effort by providers and advisers to get the message across. Consumers need to become better educated financially and the responsibility for this lies not just with the financial services industry.
2. It seems highly unlikely they will be able to do so on the grounds of religious prejudice (yet again they seem to have failed to think something through). However, if for some reason they are able to enforce a scenario where only members of certain religious groups may implement specific retirement options, one or both of two things will occur: the number of Christian Brethren will rise substantially or more people will buy annuities. Under the latter scenario less people will buy pensions, since one of their major objections includes the loss of flexibility and funds to their family when they die.
3. This already seems to be happening with some providers and is a major improvement in the market place. It would appear that a substantial proportion of the population will qualify for enhanced rates because they smoke, etc, and can qualify for them straightforwardly. This requires consumers to have a better awareness of the availability of the open market option.
   The whole process needs to become more automated from comparative quotation to company specific and application in the way that life assurance can be arranged. At the moment the process is still very laborious for advisers and even more so for clients.
4. I expect to see the increased use of electronic underwriting and more streamlined processes. More providers moving into the market if they can access it cost effectively, and profitably through greater use of technology. Also greater refinement in terms of the conditions for which enhanced terms will be offered and increased availability of the new choices since A-day, including the ability to transfer funds, albeit for a price.

1. Pensions simplification allowed us to add value protection to our range of enhanced annuities. This protects the value of a customer’s annuity should they die before reaching age 75. In this event, a lump sum will be paid to the customer’s beneficiaries representing the original annuity purchase price, less the aggregate amount of income already paid (less tax) from the annuity. A-Day significantly increased the awareness of retirement issues among the public, although we have yet to see this result in an increase in the take up of the OMO as a result.
2. Given the current restrictions placed on the benefits of ASP, I believe that it will appeal only to a small niche of high net worth customers. Indeed, for the vast majority it will continue to be in their best interests to annuitise funds well before their 75th birthday, and thus the impact of ASP on the annuity market is likely to be small.
3. If a smoker or someone in ill health has a lower than average life expectancy, it is only fair that they receive a higher annuity rate – after all, they are unlikely to receive their annuity for as long as someone in good health. As underwriting processes become more sophisticated and technology improves, it is becoming progressively easier to provide electronically calculated annuity rates based on a customer’s specific lifestyle and medical conditions. This means that customers can be sure that they receive a fair rate based on their personal circumstances; that advisers have access to annuity quotations 24/7; and providers can benefit from the cost reductions arising from increased automation.
4. Currently, the at-retirement market is pretty much polarised. At one end there is an annuity, which is a cost efficient means of converting a lump sum into a fixed income stream guaranteed for life. At the other end of the market is the Drawdown contract, which offers significant flexibility in terms of income, investment and death benefits, but this brings additional risk and higher costs. There is a demand from consumers for products that combine the best features of both an annuity and a drawdown, and providers will continue to seek products that provide the flexibility of drawdown within low risk structure of an annuity.

The post A-day environment has been a boon for the annuity market, with new rules, new products and new companies entering the arena. Ruth Emery explains the driving forces behind the transformation

The NPSS promises pensions for all, but will it offer comprehensive advice and guidance to those unsure about their choices? Matt Trott looks specifically at the area of annuities

Gregory Perdon examines the unnecessary risks that British investors are assuming and explains how to protect one’s purchasing power with tri-currency diversification

Andrew Oliver discusses the options open to individuals who are approaching their retirement, when planning and structure are key components to allowing a smooth transition

Matthew Craig, head of editorial, online pensions projects, FT Business: What are the biggest changes in the annuity market since A-day?

Given the boom in European real estate investing, and the subsequent profits which have be made, Nicholas Burnell asks whether or not some people have missed the boat

Many firms are beefing up their consultant numbers and Lane, Clark & Peacock (LCP) is no exception.

Robin Houghton and Joseph Lu have been appointed senior managers at Synesis Life.

After having been announced new CEO of the London Pensions Fund Authority (LPFA) earlier this year, Mike Taylor formally took up the position on September 18, replacing Peter Scales.

CMS Cameron McKenna is to add a familiar face to its pensions practice when Neil Smith rejoins as a pensions partner from Taylor Wessing.

Cordea Savills’s London office is to welcome Patrick Carr as its new director of UK residential. Prior to the appointment, Carr was ING UK residential property fund manager for two years.