7 days

7 Days is a weekly round up of developments in pensions, normally published on Monday afternoons. We collate this information from key industry sources, such as the DWP, HMRC and TPR.

In this 7 Days

• FCA publishes policy statement on information prompts in the annuity market
• Information Commissioner calls on businesses to prepare for the GDPR
• OECD publishes Pension Funds in Figures
• PLSA announces appointment of new chair
• PPI publishes report on consumer engagement: lessons from overseas

FCA publishes policy statement on information prompts in the annuity market

The FCA has published a policy statement, setting out its response to feedback on its consultation on “Implementing information prompts in the annuity market”. The paper also sets out the FCA’s final rules which require firms to inform consumers, by providing an “information prompt”, as to how much they could gain from shopping around and switching provider before buying an annuity.

Information Commissioner calls on businesses to prepare for the GDPR

With just 12 months to go until the General Data Protection Regulation comes into force, the ICO has called on businesses to prepare for “the biggest change to data protection law for a generation”.

The clock is also ticking for trustees, employers and pension providers to get ready. We are producing a series of Alerts on different elements of the GDPR. Our latest in the series, “Getting ready for the GDPR: countdown to 25 May 2018”, explains what data the GDPR applies to and outlines the main principles to apply when processing personal data.

OECD publishes Pension Funds in Figures

According to preliminary statistics from the OECD, pension fund assets grew in most reporting economies in 2016, with investments increasing in 32 out of 35 OECD economies and in 25 out of the 27 non-OECD economies participating in the statistical exercise. However, the UK and Japan bucked this trend, seeing pension fund assets decline slightly, by 0.1% and 0.8% respectively.

PLSA announces appointment of new chair

The PLSA has today (30 May 2017) announced the appointment of Richard Butcher (Managing Director at PTL) as its new Chair. He will succeed Lesley Williams, whose two-year tenure ends at the PLSA Annual Conference in Manchester on 20 October 2017.

Commenting on his appointment, Richard Butcher said: “I am proud and humbled to be appointed as Chair of the PLSA and to succeed Lesley Williams. Lesley is a great chair and a champion of the pensions industry. Looking to the future, I intend to build on the hard work of the association members, the councils and committees and the executive of the PLSA to ensure that we continue to inform the debate and represent the views and interests of our members.”

PPI publishes report on consumer engagement: lessons from overseas

The PPI has published the second in a series of three reports exploring consumer engagement with pensions and financial products.

The latest report examines international examples of policies designed to encourage engagement. Drawing on case studies from around the world, the report focuses on different countries’ approaches to automatic enrolment and automatic escalation, as well as digital innovation including smartphone applications and pensions dashboards.