In April, the IFoA published its sixth thematic review report: Corporate pensions: actuarial advice given to pension scheme sponsors on funding and strategy (bit.ly/AMS_Publications).
Corporate advice to defined benefit pension scheme sponsors can have a material impact on pension scheme financial security. The review found that the overall standard of advice was good, and the report aims to help actuaries further develop such advice.
Neil Buckley, chair of the IFoA Regulatory Board, commented: “The Regulatory Board was pleased to receive this helpful and informative report, and welcomes the finding that, in general, actuarial work was of good quality with sound levels of compliance with standards. The report highlights areas where actuaries can further improve how advice is delivered to clients and showcases approaches already being adopted by our members in this field.”
Participation in thematic reviews is voluntary. IFoA senior review actuary David Gordon, who wrote the report, said: “I would like to thank those actuaries from 15 organisations who agreed to take part in this review, which included scrutiny of 48 examples of advice and in-depth conversations with some of the actuaries involved. I look forward to discussing this report and its findings with regulators and other stakeholders with an interest in corporate pensions advice.”
The IFoA Thematic Review Programme is part of the Actuarial Monitoring Scheme, designed to improve the effectiveness of actuarial regulation in the public interest, provide meaningful independent feedback to members and employers, and promote ongoing reinforcement and improvement.
