Association of Member Nominated Trustees (AMNT) Newsletter May 4th 2013

AMNT Summer Conference –
‘Where Now The Pension Promise?’ June 26th – at
21 Tothill Street, Westminster, SW1H 9LL

We wish to announce our first members’ conference which will be held as above at the premises of Towers Watson one of our sponsors. We hope that this conference will be a little different as we examine the latest in best practise and scheme evolution. It will include presentations from some AMNT Members about their schemes, information from our very own survey of members and thought provoking presentations from some external speakers.

There will also be some round table discussions where we will examine certain issues with our key sponsors. Our members are invited to attend the whole conference free of charge and our industry Friends will also be invited to attend the first parts of the event. There will be good opportunity to network in the breaks.

Mark your diaries now. Full details with agenda and registration details will be issued in a few days time. The outline time for the event is from 10am to 5.00pm.  We would still like to find one or two more interesting case studies from our members own experiences and schemes. If you have something that you think would be interesting for colleagues (and Friends) to hear about your scheme do please contact us now and we will do our best to find a presentation slot. Contact mail@amnt.org initially.

Workplace Pensions Event – Edgbaston – 8-9th May
Have you booked for this event through Engaged Investor or Pensions Insight? Both our co-chairs are on panels at the event:
Barry is part of the panel for ‘Driving DC to the next level’ 13:45 to 14:30 on Day 1
Janice is part of the Trustee Super Panel 15:45 to 16:30 at the end of Day 2
We hope to see many of you there.

Pension and Benefits Show – ExCel Centre – 12-13 June
The very best solutions to pension and employee benefit issues are only discovered when pensions management, benefits management, finance and HR work together. That’s why the NEW Pensions and Benefits Show, on the 12-13 June, will be the ‘must attend’ event of 2013.
Join over 1000 professionals in the Pensions, HR, Benefits and Finance industries, for 50+ conference sessions & workshops, 80+ exhibitors, unrivalled networking opportunities and FREE advice.

NEW FOR 2013 - Free advice and peer-to-peer networking in the P&B Clinic, one-on-one guidance, Partner Insight Lunches, Speed Connections, Ask an Expert Wall and the Boardroom Debate.
The AMNT will have a stand at this event and we invite as many as possible to come and visit us there. Entrance for Trustees is free of charge.
Go to www.pensionsandbenefitsshow.co.uk to find out more.

Are you based in the East Midlands?
Any of our members who are based in the East Midlands are invited to attend meetings of the NAPF East Midlands section. These meetings on topical pension matters are held about five times per year, at premises of members and usually on mid-week afternoons. That said, the very next meeting is a supper to be held at Leicester University on 13th June where the speaker is Phil Stone of the Richard III Society. For more info contact:
Tina.Lane@samworthbrothers.couk
Or Bob.Compton@arcbenefits.co.uk

Pensions Liberation
You are sure to have heard much about this in recent weeks but we didn’t realise it was quite so prevalent until one of our Committee members said that their scheme had 6 suspicious cases under review at the moment. So we have become keen to know how widespread this is and if your scheme has current issues with this we would like to hear more at mail@amnt.org
With this subject in mind our sponsor Sackers has issued a helpful brief:
http://www.sackers.com/documents/publications/alerts/alert_pension_liberation_what_trustees_need_to_know_18_april_2013.html
and there is also the material from the Regulator:
http://www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/trustees/pension-liberation-fraud-trustees.aspx

Takeover Code
Are you aware of a new code coming into play from 20th May. Our Sponsor Towers Watson has issued a briefing note:
http://links.mkt304.com/servlet/MailView?ms=NDg4OTQzOQS2&r=NTE2NDkxMjUwOTQS1&j=MTUwNTgwNjM2S0&mt=1&rt=0

Small Pots / Short Service Refunds
And another hot topic. You might find the TW briefing note on this subject helpful also:
http://links.mkt304.com/servlet/MailView?ms=NDg5MDc2OAS2&r=NTE2ODIyNjY0NjUS1&j=MTUwNjE5MzgzS0&mt=1&rt=0

Want to Benchmark Your Scheme?
CEM Benchmarking, one of our Friends provides analyses for about 300 of the largest DB schemes around the world every year – looking in particular at investment costs and their reasonableness in relation to scheme size and asset mix. Last year they presented to an AMNT meeting and were well received.
They are now commencing the analysis of 2012 data and they invite our members to participate (not necessarily just large schemes). They produce two levels of report – a base level is provided free for all participants and a deeper study is provided for those paying a fee. Last year one or two AMNT members did follow up and their schemes made use of the service.
If you have an interest please contact directly:
John Simmonds at JohnS@cembenchmarking.com

Conference – Investment Issues for Maturing Pension Funds 9 July 2013 Le Meridien, Piccadilly
Our Friends SPS have offered us a small number of complimentary places to the above. After looking at the latest thinking on Liability Driven Investment Strategies and Identifying Liability Surrogates, the conference will move on to look at the wider de-risking alternatives including interest rate, longevity hedging and tail risk hedging before reviewing more definitive strategies such as buy-ins, buy-outs and other options.

Sponsors are: AXA Investment Managers, Capula Investment Management, Legal & General Investment Management, Rothesay Life and Russell Investments.

If you would like to attend please contact us initially at mail@amnt.org