Monitoring pension schemes is the best way for trustees to work towards recovering money that belongs to them through US class actions in UK pension schemes, according to an industry debate.

Thomas Dubbs, partner at US law firm Labaton Sucharow, participated in a Parliamentary roundtable on 'US Class Action: Making it work for UK Pension Funds' on Thursday 14 May 2009, and told Pensions Age that there was a lot of exchange between the attendees, which included pension trust chairs, stakeholders, MPs and other decision-makers.

"There was talk of Iceland, RBS - a lot of issues that were ventilated - all this shows that there is generally increasing awareness of the utility of the US class actions in circumstances for scheme members," he said.

Dubbs revealed that the roundtable was part of an on-going effort in the UK to explore, with relevant stakeholders, what can be done "via the US securities class actions process. It is not a panacea, but is one tool in the tool chest that schemes should be aware of and know of".

When questioned on the potential and importance of this little-used tool, Dubbs told Pensions Age that the overall consensus from the roundtable was that "pension schemes could leave money on the table form sometimes massive class action settlements in the US. The scheme members deserve every penny that they are entitled to, particularly given the current economic climate."

Dubbs also revealed that he intends to continue to visit pension schemes at their request "to educate them as to their options", and that his company is becoming "ever more frequent visitors to the UK".

- Pensions Age May 2009

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