Download or read book Regulating defined contribution pension schemes written by Great Britain: National Audit Office and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2012-07-11 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report on the regulation of defined contribution pensions concludes that there is insufficient accountability to ensure that the regulatory system delivers value for money. The report highlights the taxpayer's substantial interest in the effectiveness of pension regulation. In 2010-11, tax relief for employer-sponsored defined contribution schemes amounted to an estimated £8.5 billion. The trend towards defined contribution schemes increases longer-term risks to the taxpayer, as members are on average likely to achieve considerably lower levels of retirement income than those with predominantly defined benefit pensions, and the state is ultimately liable for providing a basic income for the elderly. The Pensions Regulator regulates all work-based pension schemes and shares responsibility for regulating some of these schemes - so-called contract-based schemes - with the Financial Services Authority. The Regulator has adopted a sound approach of aiming to regulate in a targeted, proportionate and risk-based way, and that its evidence base is improving, as is the administration of schemes. However, The Pensions Regulator's current system of performance measurement does not make it possible to judge whether the Regulator is effective in protecting members' benefits, which is one of its strategic objectives. There is no single body leading on regulating schemes, setting objectives or measuring performance. The lack of a joined-up approach also means that there is insufficient basic information available about the market, such as definite numbers of scheme members or the levels of fees and charges they face.

Download or read book Risk Based Supervision of Pension Funds written by Greg Brunner and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2008-04-01 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Risk-Based Supervision of Pension Funds' provides a review of the design and experience of risk-based pension fund supervision in countries that have been leaders in the development of these methods. The utilization of risk-based methods originates primarily in the supervision of banks. In recent years it has increasingly been extended to other types of financial intermediaries, including pension funds and insurers. The trend toward risk-based supervision of pensions reflects an increasing focus on risk management in both banking and insurance based on three key elements: capital requirements, supervisory review, and market discipline. Although similar in concept to the techniques developed in banking, its application to pension funds has required modifications, particularly for defined contribution funds that transfer investment risk to fund members. The countries examined–Australia, Denmark, Mexico, and the Netherlands–provide a range of experience that illustrates both the diversity of pension systems and the approaches to risk-based supervision, and also presents a commonality of focus on sound risk management and effective supervisory outcomes.

Download or read book HM Treasury Freedom and Choice in Pensions Cm 8835 written by Great Britain: H.M. Treasury and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2014-03-19 with total page 56 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This consultation form a key part of a wider set of reforms announced at Budget 2014. The government is keen to ensure that individuals who want to save are supported in doing so. The nature of retirement is changing as people are living longer and their needs more varied. In this Government's view the State should not be imposing restrictions on individuals who have made tough choices to save for the future. So from next year there will be no restrictions on people's ability to draw down from their defined contribution pension pots after age 55. The tax rules will be drastically simplified to give flexible access to pension savings. Consumers will therefore also need to be well informed to make their choices and the Government will introduce a new duty on pension providers and schemes to deliver a 'guidance guarantee' by April 2015. They will also make available a £20 million development fund to get the initiative up and running

Download or read book Assessing Chile s Pension System Challenges and Reform Options written by Samuel Pienknagura and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2021-09-10 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Chile’s pension system came under close scrutiny in recent years. This paper takes stock of the adequacy of the system and highlights its challenges. Chile’s defined contribution system was quite influential when introduced, and was taken as an example by other countries. However, it is now delivering low replacement rates relative to OECD peers, as its parameters did not adapt over time to changing demographics and global returns, while informality persists in the labor market. In the absence of reforms, the system’s inability to deliver adequate outcomes for a large share of participants will continue to magnify, as demographic trends and low global interest rates will continue to reduce replacement rates. In addition, recent legislation allowing for pension savings withdrawals to counter the effects from the COVID-19 pandemic, is projected to further reduce replacement rates and increase fiscal costs. A substantial improvement in replacement rates is feasible, via a reform that raises contribution rates and the retirement age, coupled with policies that increases workers’ contribution density.

Download or read book Making automatic enrolment work written by Great Britain: Department for Work and Pensions and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2010-10-27 with total page 214 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Current policy is that new duties will be staged in between 2012 and 2016, requiring all employers to designate a pension scheme into which all of their employees, aged between 22 and state pension age, should be automatically enrolled, so long as they are earning above an annual earnings threshold (the Pensions Act 2008 sets this at £5,035, equivalent to £5,732 in today's terms). Upon automatic enrolment, a minimum of eight per cent of earnings within a band would be contributed to the pension, with at least three per cent coming from the employer. This policy is designed to maximise private pension saving by individuals without imposing compulsion. The right to opt out will remain. This review looks at the scope of automatic enrolment and whether a new national pension scheme (National Employment Savings Trust or NEST) needs to be put in place for it to work. One of the most significant recommendations that it makes is that people should only be automatically enrolled once they reach the income tax threshold (which will increase to £7.475 in 2011) but that contributions should be on earnings in excess of the National Insurance earnings threshold (£5,715 in today's prices). There should be no changes to age thresholds and automatic enrolment duties should apply to all employers, regardless of size, as now. Employers should be given three months before auto-enrolment to ease the burden on companies. If staff choose to enrol before the three month period then companies will have to make contributions

Download or read book OECD Pensions Outlook 2020 written by Oecd and published by . This book was released on 2020-12-07 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 2020 edition of the OECD Pensions Outlook examines a series of policy options to help governments improve the sustainability and resilience of pension systems. It considers how to ensure that policy makers balance the trade-off between the short-term and long-term consequences of policy responses to COVID-19; how to determine and assess the adequacy of retirement income; how funded pension arrangements can support individuals in non-standard forms of work to save for retirement; how to select default investment strategies; how to address the potential negative consequences from frequent switching of investment strategies; and, how retirement income arrangements can share both the investment and longevity risks among different stakeholders in a sustainable manner. This edition also discusses how governments can communicate in a way that helps people choose their optimal investment strategies.

Download or read book The Occupational Pension Schemes Collective Money Purchase Schemes Regulations 2022 written by GREAT BRITAIN. and published by . This book was released on 2021-12-16 with total page 68 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Enabling power: Pensions Act 2008, ss. 28 and 144(2) and (4) & Pensions Act 2014, ss. 43, 54 (5) (6), sch. 18, paras 1, 2 & Pension Schemes Act 2021, ss. 3 (8), 5 (2), 8 (4) (a) (b), 11 (2) (e) (3) (a), 12 (2) (b), 13 (3), 14 (3), 15 (4) (a), 16 (2), 17 (4) (5) (8), 18 (4), 19 (2), 20 (5), 22 (3) (b), 23 (3) (c), 27 (2), 28 (3) (4), 29 (7) (a) (10) (a) (b), 33 (4) (b) (10), 36 (1) (c) (2) (b) (c) (5) (6) (10), 37 (3) (b), 38 (3), 39 (1) (b), 40 (4) (6), 41 (2), 43 (2) (4) (b) (c), 45 (3) (6), 49 (2) (b) (4), 51 (2) (3), sch. 2, para. 1 (6). Issued: 16.12.2021. Sifted: -. Made: -. Laid: -. Coming into force: 01.08.2022. Effect: 1993 c. 48 modified & S.I. 1996/1715; 2010/772; 2015/879 amended. Territorial extent & classification: E/W/S/NI. For approval by resolution of each House of Parliament

Download or read book Governance and Best Practice in Workplace Pension Provision written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Work and Pensions Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2013-02-12 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Pensions Regulator written by Great Britain: National Audit Office and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2007-10-26 with total page 60 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Some 20 million people in England and Wales have private sector work-based pension schemes. The Pensions Regulator was established in April 2005 to regulate these schemes, replacing the Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority (Opra), with the statutory objectives to protect members' benefits, to promote improved governance of such schemes, and to reduce the risk of compensation being paid out by the Pension Protection Fund. This NAO report examines the regulatory approach taken and whether this addresses the key risks, given that any conclusions on the effectiveness of pensions regulation must be set in the long term context rather than based on shorter term fluctuations. Findings include that the Pensions Regulator has made good progress in establishing a sound risk-based approach to regulation, with clear links between its statutory objectives and its operational approach. As the regulator matures, it has the scope for a presumption of further transparency in its approach, and is taking steps to increase the information it makes available to the pensions sector. The report sets out a number of recommendations for further progress, bearing in mind that risks in the pensions environment can change quickly.

Download or read book Pensions and Legal Policy written by Amanda Cooke and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2021-02-11 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores the historical position of pensions law in the UK and the recent influences which have led to the introduction of Auto-Enrolment and subsequent reforms. Alternative models, such as the US and Australia, are also considered as well as the function of law in bringing about political changes. The question of saving for retirement is of national and international importance and many governments are wrestling with the issue of how to deal with the pension funding crisis. Consequently political policy has, in many cases, combined with behavioural science to inform new laws which have acted to shift the burden from the state into the private sector. Around the world responsibility is being moved onto individuals and employers as the state retreats from provision of state support in retirement; this book offers a sophisticated analysis of the role of legal intervention to facilitate this shift. The book explores the work of behavioural economics, its global influence on understanding financial decision-making and its application to legislation which seeks to influence consumer outcomes. Drawing on qualitative empirical research to explore the experience of implementation of Auto-Enrolment, this timely work considers the interaction with the work of behavioural science to highlight the social costs of the new regulatory regime.

Download or read book Defined Benefit Plans written by Barbara D. Bovbjerg and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 2010 with total page 38 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Some U.S. financial and pension consulting firms have recently proposed alternatives to terminating a defined benefit (DB) pension plan and contracting with an insur. co. to pay promised benefits. In their proposals, a plan sponsor would transfer the assets and liabilities of a hard-frozen DB plan along with additional money to a financial entity, which would become the new sponsor. This report addresses the following questions: (1) What is the basic model of proposed sales of frozen DB plans to third-party financial firms and how does it compare with a standard plan termination? (2) What are the potential risks and benefits of plan buyouts for participants, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. (PBGC), plan sponsors, and other stakeholders?

Download or read book The Pensions Regulator written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2008 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This fifteenth report from Committee of Public Accounts, in the 2007-08 session examines "The Pensions Regulator: progress in establishing its new regulatory arrangements" (HCP 122, ISBN 9780215514684). An earlier report from the NAO is also available, see (HCP 1035, session 2006-07, ISBN 9780102951219). Some 4 million people are still active contributors to work-based pension schemes (final salary schemes), with approximately some 20 million people having at some point contributed to such schemes with the value of the managed funds exceeding £700 billion. The Pensions Regulator (TPR), established in 2005, took over regulatory responsibility for such schemes. The Committee states that the TPR has acted to put the regulation of such schemes on a firmer footing, taking greater account of risk and possesses stronger powers to obtain information and intervene to protect members' benefits. The Committee also states though that the TPR has made a slower start in the regulation of money purchase schemes with room for improvement in the standards of scheme governance and communication with members. Further work is also required to improve the information held by the TPR about schemes and make use of that information to effectively regulate individual schemes.

Download or read book The Structure Regulation and Performance of Pension Funds in Nine Industrial Countries written by E. P. Davis and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1993 with total page 85 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Company pension funds can make important contributions to retirement income and to capital market development. But they need to be regulated and supervised to avoid fraud; protect the interests of workers, and minimize restrictions on labor mobility.

Download or read book Management and Regulation of Pension Schemes written by Nicholas Morris and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-03-19 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Perhaps the greatest long-term challenge facing modern economies is how to pay for the living expenses and care costs of the elderly. Following policy decisions made in Australia in the 1990s, a substantial part of the pension requirements of the next cohort of retirees will be met from savings accumulated during working years. The effective management of these savings is crucial. If they are invested wisely, the assets available to fund pensions and care will grow; if not, available funds may turn out to be insufficient. Unfortunately, there is considerable evidence worldwide that the management of funds attracts rent-seeking behaviour by the financial services industry which erodes much of the potential return. Australia introduced compulsory superannuation contributions for its working population in 1991, leading to a proliferation of funded schemes that are largely run by the private sector. Complexity, and many degrees of separation between fund members and those who manage their funds, have emerged as serious problems. Combined with weak competitive pressures and governance systems, and insufficient legal and regulatory constraints, the result is a system that does not serve its members well. This book provides a detailed evaluation of the Australian experience, highlights the extent to which the financial services industry has extracted rents from Australian pensioners, and how and why this occurred. Based on original empirical research, and examination of industry reviews and relevant literature, the book demonstrates the numerous principal–agent, conflict of interest and rent extraction problems that have emerged in Australia. The book makes suggestions for how these problems can be addressed in Australia, and also provides lessons for other countries wishing to enact pension reform.

Download or read book Pensions written by Sinéad Agnew and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2020-08-20 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: State pensions are the largest item in the UK social security budget, costing £96.7 billion in 2017/18. In the same year, 45.6 million people were members of UK occupational pension schemes (out of a total population of 66.4 million) and the total amount saved into workplace schemes in 2018 was £90.4 billion. A consequence of the pensions sector's large size has been that pensions law and social security law have become increasingly specialised areas of practice. Yet despite their social and economic importance and the fascinating legal issues they generate, pensions have not been the subject of sustained academic attention. This book starts to fill this gap by initiating a dialogue between practitioners and scholars working on pensions law and policy, groups who have much to learn from one another.

Download or read book Automatic enrolment in workplace pensions and the National Employment Savings Trust written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Work and Pensions Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2012-03-15 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Government established NEST as a low-cost pension scheme to help deliver the auto-enrolment programme and to address a market failure in the pensions industry which meant that many employers and employees were unable to access low-cost, good quality pension provision. However, the Committee believes that certain restrictions placed on NEST will create complexity for employers and will disadvantage some employees. The Committee's report recommends that, if state aid rules allow, the Government should remove the following restrictions: the cap on the annual contributions an individual can make to a NEST scheme; and the ban on individuals transferring existing pension pots into NEST. The Committee further urges the Government to proceed with its plans for State Pension reform, introducing a flat-rate State Pension and reducing the level of means-testing without delay. The report also highlights the difficulties and complexity employers and employees currently face in comparing the fees and charges applied by pension providers and recommends that, from 2013 onwards, if some auto-enrolment schemes still have hidden charges, or charges that represent poor value for money, the Government should use its powers to intervene. Auto-enrolment will impose new costs and may be particularly challenging for small employers however the Committee considers that the Government has taken appropriate steps to minimise the impact on businesses through its gradual and flexible approach ("staging and phasing") to implementation. Exempting small employers would create significant complexity, as well as excluding many employees from the benefits of workplace pension saving

Download or read book Private Pensions Series Regulating Private Pension Schemes Trends and Challenges written by OECD and published by OECD Publishing. This book was released on 2002-04-19 with total page 331 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This conference proceedings analyses the key policy implications arising from the growth of private pensions.