Industry views of the Pensions Regulator have become more favourable, the organisation's annual perception survey has found.
The proportion of respondents who considered the regulator's performance to be 'very good' or 'good' edged up slightly to 66% from 64% in 2012.
Among those who rated the regulator's performance as 'very good', 30% said it has improved in the past year.
There was a significant improvement in perceptions of the regulator's effectiveness at 'strengthening the funding of defined benefit schemes', up from 65% to 75% and in 'reducing the risks of claims to the Pension Protection Fund', up from 55% to 68%.
This year's survey also included perceptions of the regulator's ability to protect members of defined contribution schemes, where 75% thought this was done 'very' or 'fairly' effectively.
Performance at maximising employer compliance with their automatic enrolment duties was rated as 'very' or 'fairly' effective by 66% of respondents.
The regulator's interim chief executive Stephen Soper said: 'We will continue to develop and refine our regulatory approach, to ensure we are equipped to tackle the challenges we face - regulating defined benefit and defined contribution schemes, fighting pension liberation fraud and working with employers and their business advisers for automatic enrolment.
'The confidence and support of the industry is essential for us to achieve our goals, and we will need to work hard to build upon this year's positive findings.'
The survey, now in its ninth year, was conducted among 719 people including in-house and external trustees, pension managers, administrators, employers, lawyers, actuaries, and independent financial advisers.
