Will Brits Be Forced to Save More?

The U.K.’s largest annual gathering of pension scheme trustees kicks off Wednesday in Manchester, with more than 1,500 industry figures confirmed.

The Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association基金公司的年度会议为期三天，包括讲座、辩论和深夜聚会，基金公司和顾问白天与受托人讨论问题，晚上进行一流的闲谈。

Top of the agenda: government review
2016年12月,英国政府宣布了一项review into its nationwide auto-enrolmentworkplace pension policy. According to government figures, more than 10 million people will be saving for their retirement by 2018 as a result of the rules, which went into force in 2012. U.K. Pensions Minister Guy Opperman is scheduled for a keynote speech at the event, and delegates will be looking for any hints as to government policy on pension contribution levels beyond 2019.

目前，英国雇员将最低工资的1%用于他们雇主所拥有的养老金计划。从2018年4月起，员工必须支付3%的薪酬，雇主必须支付2%的薪酬，到2019年4月，这一比例将分别上升至5%和3%。资产管理公司、反贫困运动人士和养老金受托人将密切关注Opperman发出的任何信号，即计划将门槛提高到8%以上2019年之后。

Conference delegates will also be looking to Opperman for more details of plans to extend the scheme to the self-employed. Former pensions minister Steve Webb — now director of policy at Royal London — told Institutional Investor that the government could use the current tax declaration process for workers to nominate a pension fund, into which HM Revenue and Customs would effectively contribute. “Ministers have been saying they are going to do something for the self-employed,” Webb explained. “We are suggesting that you get as close as you can to the current auto-enrolment process for the self-employed. When the self-employed fill in a tax return, they could be required to specify a pension scheme.”

Death watch
Away from policymaking, defined benefit trustees will be keen to discuss current longevity trends after figures released in March by the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries’ Continuous Mortality Investigation suggested that the average person may die sooner than previously thought.

At the time, some consultants said that this could reduce DB pension deficits in coming years, but closer inspection of the data sets has led some to caution against any automatic adjustments. Calum Cooper, partner and head of trustee consulting at Hymans Robertson, toldIIthat while the person may die sooner, some socio-economic groups are living longer. “We have seen a slowdown in the rate of improvement in longevity and a lot more volatility in year on year life expectancy. But, when you dig below the surface, the ‘higher affluence’ groups are still experiencing the same rate of life improvement as they did in the previous five years.”

Everything else

• 随着英国Financial Conduct Authoritydeciding to refer the investment consulting market to the Competition and Markets Authority for scrutiny of the quality of advice offered,consultants can expect some heatfrom trustees at the PLSA conference.

• Around 1,000 of the U.K.’s 6,000 defined benefit pension funds are starting down the prospect of not being able to pay their member benefits in full, Hymans Robertson estimated. Delegates will want to discuss the recent PLSA consolidation study and its implications for costs and innovation.

• And finally, it wouldn’t be the PLSA conference without asset managers’ annual chorus on “chronic levels of under-saving.” Expect the usual overtures on “engagement” and “education.” This year, though, they may add in some sizzling tidbits about the quality of defined contribution default funds.

亚博赞助欧冠 will be reporting from the conference from Wednesday, October 18, through Friday, October 20, in Manchester, UK.