IFoA event: Pension funds and life companies: are they fit for purpose?

A recent study by the Bank of England highlighted a number of connected issues: the decline in the willingness of insurance companies and pension funds to bear investment risk (these institutions hold only 10% of UK equities today compared to over 50% in the late eighties); the trend from long-term to short-term investment; that life insurance companies are behaving in a procyclical manner; significant herding within the investment practices of the UK DB sector; and the introduction of mark-to-market based regulation and accounting.  These developments potentially undermine the vital intermediation role that our institutions fulfil in channelling consumers’ savings and investments to industry and infrastructure, providing a vital source of long-term funding, the returns from which underpin the quality of those consumers’ retirement incomes.  The purpose of this event is to identify actions and research which the profession can undertake, in conjunction with others, to address these shortcomings.

The panel discussion will be chaired by Stephanie Flanders, former BBC Economics Editor and now Chief Market Strategist for UK and Europe with JP Morgan Asset Management. 

Our panellists will be:

• John Kay, Economist and Chair of 2012 review of UK equity markets
• Alan Rubenstein, Chief Executive, Pension Protection Fund
• Victoria Saporta, Head of Prudential Policy Division at the Bank of England
• Robert Talbut, Investment Management Association Board member and former CIO of Royal London 
• Philip Broadley, formerly Group Finance Director at Old Mutual and at Prudential

In addition there will be keynote speeches from: 

• Sarah Breeden, Director of Major Overseas Banks in the Bank of England’s International Banks Directorate, who managed the Bank of England Procyclicality Working Group
• Ashok Gupta, Chair, AA Insurance Services, NED, and Deputy Chair of the Bank of England Procyclicality Working Group

The IFoA believes the distinguished panel and keynote speakers collectively have the breadth and depth of experience to drive this debate forwards.