Agenda

08.30 – 08.55: Registration and refreshments

08.55 – 09.00: Chairman’s opening remarks
Gary Smith, Pensions and Investment Professional

09.00 – 09.30: Fiduciary management research results
Bob Campion, Head of Fiduciary Management, Charles Stanley

Bob Campion, Head of Fiduciary Management at Charles Stanley, will open this year’s Pensions Age Autumn Conference with an insightful overview of the results of Charles Stanley’s latest research report. Each year, Charles Stanley surveys professional trustees as to concerns and challenges they're facing, and how the industry is changing in response to those challenges - this time, particularly considering the gilts crisis last year.

09.30 – 10.00: Key steps on the road to de-risking
Ralph McClelland, Partner, Sackers

Ralph McClelland, Partner, Sackers will use this session to reflect on some frequently encountered issues on the way from buy-in to buyout and offer some tips for managing these early on.

10.00 – 10.30: What insurers want: standing out in a crowded BPA market
Kieran Mistry, Senior Business Development Manager, Standard Life

Kieran Mistry, Senior Business Development Manager at Standard Life, will reflect on how the bulk purchase annuity market dynamics have shifted over the past couple of years, and will give a crash course on how to stand out in an unprecedentedly busy market and maximise attractiveness to insurers.

10.30 – 11.00: Investment stewardship: a fiduciary approach to engagement and voting
Manuel Isaza, Director, BlackRock

There has been a recent shift in focus on how UK pension schemes approach sustainability. Asset owners are putting more emphasis on engagement with companies, this translates in trying to understand how investment stewardship teams engage with companies in more detail and requesting more transparency. It’s no longer just about excluding the “bad” companies from their portfolios - it’s about supporting companies in their sustainability and transition journey. Join Manuel Isaza, member of BlackRock's Investment Stewardship (BIS) team, as he discusses what engagement looks like in practice, the importance of transparency and reporting to clients.

11.00 – 11.30: Coffee break

11.30 – 12.00: DC solutions in private markets
Harry Elliott, Vice President, MV Credit
Alex Thompson, VP, Loomis Sayles, Investment Director, Alpha Strategies

As the UK DC market embraces the need for private markets, and the returns and diversification benefits they can bring, asset managers and schemes need to work together to innovate and find ways to access this precious illiquidity premium, whilst remaining true to the daily needs of schemes, platforms and the members they serve. Natixis Investment Managers affiliates, MV Credit and Loomis Sayles discuss the relative merits of the combination of private and public credit and their experience of building an award-winning solution that is an easy first step for trustees of schemes to allocate to for their first foray into these less liquid asset class.

12.00 – 12.30: LDI, illiquidity and more: A professional trustee’s view
Payam Kazemian, Client Director, ZEDRA Governance

What can we learn from the LDI crisis fallout of last year? What went wrong and what could have been done better? What can trustees do to mitigate risks and improve governance going forward? How are schemes dealing with illiquidity management? How is the buy-in/buyout market evolving? These are just some of the questions Payam Kazemian, Client Director at ZEDRA Governance - an experienced professional trustee, with particular expertise in the investment sphere - will tackle in this interactive Q&A session.

12.30 – 13.00: Dashboards Q&A
Keynote Speakers:
Chris Curry, Principal of the Pensions Dashboards Programme, Money and Pensions Service
Lucy Stone, Pensions Dashboards Business Lead, The Pensions Regulator (TPR)

Chris Curry and Lucy Stone will provide an update on the pensions dashboards’ progress and discuss what is coming up. They will cover what the new connection deadline and guidance mean for industry, and what pension providers and schemes should be doing to prepare to connect. With the programme having a keen focus on collaboration, they will also discuss the various ways for industry to get involved in making a success of dashboards.

13.00 – 14.00: Lunch break

14.00 – 14.30: The data maintenance conundrum - cost or investment?
Alan Clay, Head of Strategy for Customer Data Solutions, LexisNexis Risk Solutions

Considering data quality as an investment rather than a cost can lead to short-term gains and better decisions for the medium to longer term. In this session Alan will explore how forward-thinking schemes and administrators are improving member communications and achieving substantial cost savings, by planning their investment in data and tackling key gaps and inaccuracies. He will also share insight from the firm’s recent analysis of 11.6 million member records from 84 pension schemes, highlighting some of the key challenges and specific opportunities for data investment - where better data can lead to better outcomes.

14.30 – 15.00: Communicating in the moments that matter, in ways that count
Michelle Brown, Marketing and Communications Strategist, Gallagher
Sarah Jones, Head of Retirement Communication, Gallagher

Different generations have different ideas, especially when it comes to money; and the issues affecting the global economy in recent years have created a seismic shift in priorities when it comes to people managing their monthly expenditure. Looking to the future isn’t easy for a lot of people right now — and failing to recognise this, while sending out generic reminder postcards, newsletters and statements, means your communications simply won’t land with impact. Michelle and Sarah will explore the need to develop a forward-thinking strategy which will ensure your communications stay ahead of the game and continue to address people’s ever-changing attitudes, behaviours and preferences.

15.00 – 15.30: Pension scams: the ongoing battle
Matthew Swynnerton, Partner, DLA Piper

Matthew Swynnerton, partner at DLA Piper and member of the Pension Scams Industry Group (PSIG), will offer a legal perspective on the important topic of pension scams and the current position on a range of issues including: PSIG’s Practitioner’s Guide and what to expect from its next update to the Code of Good Practice, the DWP’s June review of the Conditions for Transfers Regulations, the recent MaPS evidence report, actions for employers, good practice in relation to clean lists and residual issues such as overseas investments and incentives.

15.30 – 16.00: Keynote Speaker
Mark Potter, Policy Business Lead, The Pensions Regulator (TPR)

Mark Potter, acting head of policy at The Pensions Regulator (TPR), will offer a round-up of the key priorities for TPR in the current environment, with a focus on some of the issues stemming from the Chancellor’s recent Mansion House speech; and TPR’s pursuit of Value for Money.

16.00: Close of conference and drinks reception