Pensions Aspects Magazine

Published bi-monthly and brought to you by the PMI, this leading UK pensions magazine offers expert insights, policy updates, and practical guidance on the issues shaping your profession. Each edition helps you stay informed and ahead, with the latest on regulation, governance, diversity, digital innovation, and more, plus member updates, exam news, and exclusive interviews.

Professional trusteeship accreditation
18 May 2020

Professional trusteeship accreditation

I passed, what was then the PMI Associate exams, in 1990, to have the hard fought for initials APMI after my name. At the time, I thought that having passed these I would not be doing any more pension exams in my working life.

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Marriage under the microscope
11 May 2020

Marriage under the microscope

Marriage matters to Defined Benefit (DB) pension schemes. This is because typically they pay survivor pensions to the spouse, or qualifying dependant, of members after they have died. To value these pensions, schemes need to know (a) what proportion of members have an eligible dependant and (b) the age difference between members and their dependants (since younger dependants are likely to live longer).

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Cyber security: lock it down
11 May 2020

Cyber security: lock it down

Everything’s relative. Back in 2014, when a surprise budget gave us the ‘overnight transformation’ of the pension industry, we thought we’d seen the ultimate shock to the system. From the 2020 vantage point, 2014’s ‘biggest shake up in a century’ looks like a long, slow and well-planned walk in an entirely predictable park. Now, we’re looking at actual overnight transformation - necessity has driven the world online on a massively  accelerated timetable and cyber attacks are running a close second to COVID-19 in the global headlines.

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Defined Benefit Master Trusts as a consolidator?
11 May 2020

Defined Benefit Master Trusts as a consolidator?

Pension scheme consolidation has been on the government’s agenda for a while now, and the Pensions Regulator has said that people saving for their retirement are better served by big schemes than by small ones. The Regulator feels that larger schemes can benefit from economies of scale, more effective and efficient investment strategies and improved governance.

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DB transfers in the time of COVID-19
11 May 2020

DB transfers in the time of COVID-19

Transfers from Defined Benefit (DB) pension schemes are an emotive topic at the best of times. In these uncertain times, the focus on them is bound to increase. We have already heard anecdotal evidence of an increase in interest in transfers, driven by members who have concerns about their jobs and the ongoing viability of their employers, and who are thinking of a transfer as a potential way to access more income if needed.

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Trustee meetings in an ongoing crisis situation
11 May 2020

Trustee meetings in an ongoing crisis situation

Trustees of pension schemes – like all of us – are operating in unprecedented times. The COVID-19 pandemic has meant that, almost overnight, trustee boards have had to adapt to working remotely and getting to grips with virtual meetings.

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