KAS Bank has developed a cost transparency dashboard to help asset owners understand and keep track of the costs involved in a pension scheme.

In a recent demo observed by Pensions Age, KAS Bank presented their product which aims to “support trustees with the governance duties and regulatory obligations” to help “improve outcomes for members”.

Cost transparency is currently a hot-button issue after the Work and Pensions Committee launched a cost and transparency inquiry in August and a recent study by KAS Bank found that a full cost transparency framework could reduce pension fund costs by 37 per cent.

The Cost Transparency & Benchmarking dashboard also shows the value for money each investment or fund is providing to help trustees make decisions on what investments they should drop or continue with.

KAS Bank is a Dutch company and is trying to replicate the cost transparency dashboard available in the Netherlands for the UK market. In the Netherlands, it is the legal obligation for schemes to submit their cost data in order to provide greater transparency in the industry.

The dashboard is being developed to try and simplify cost data, which includes “pension management costs, investment costs and a detailed breakdown of the underlying cost categories”.

Data will be collected through industry standard templates and hopes to cater for “all asset classes of a scheme’s managers” by displaying the information in an illustrative format.

At the time of writing, KAS Bank has only one client submitting data to the dashboard, but say that they have several others that are interested and will be submitting their data in the near future.

As there is no legal requirement for UK pension schemes to provide their cost data, it may take time for enough information to be available for the dashboard make a meaningful impact on member’s pensions funds.

Share Story: