Meet the trustees

If you are the owner of / the advisor to an ITC SSAS, do you remember to hold your annual trustee meeting?

A trustee meeting provides an excellent opportunity for the trustees to meet with the scheme financial advisor and the administrator to do a review of the scheme. Issues that are typically discussed are investment strategy and performance, scheme governance, trustee training etc. - but it’s an open forum!

The owner of an ITC SSAS is also a trustee of the SSAS, ITC being the other trustee. This is one of the key features of the ITC SSAS. The Pensions Board’s Trustee Manual, which sets down rules of conduct for trustees of occupational pension schemes, prescribes that trustees should meet at least once every year. It is most appropriately done just after the issue of the annual scheme accounts.

In ITC, we issue an invitation to a trustee meeting and the meeting agenda with every set of annual accounts. The accounts and the invitation are forwarded to the member trustee and, if we have been requested to do so, to the financial advisor. It is then up to the trustees and the financial advisor to agree the timing of the trustee meeting – but it must be held.

The meeting can be done over the phone or by meeting in the ITC offices. At the end of the meeting, the trustees observe their duty to sign the annual accounts. Minutes of the Meeting are agreed.

On occasion, issues of a legal or technical character arise. The trustee meeting is the perfect opportunity for agreeing how to solve them.

Make sure that you hold a trustee meeting at least once a year. It’s a great opportunity –  it’s your duty!

 

Tommy Nielsen

ITC Consulting

New Years Resolution!

Complete trustee training and avoid €2k fine!

Almost two years ago, the Pensions Board introduced a requirement for all pension scheme trustees to complete trustee training. For any trustees appointed prior to that date they have two years to complete the training so the 1^st February 2012 is the deadline for many.   

The concern is that many who are due to complete the training have not yet done so because of lack of awareness of their obligations. 

3 Common Misconceptions

·      There is an assumption that this training is for bigger pension schemes only but that’s not the case.  If the employer fail to provide training to all the relevant parties they may be prosecuted. In addition a trustee who does not undergo the training may be subject to an on-the-spot fine of €2,000 by the Pensions Board.

·         One or two person company pension schemes where the employer is the trustee.  Many of these employers may not realise they are still officially the trustees of such schemes particularly where the scheme was established for an employee who has since left the company.  However,  the employer remains as the trustee and must comply with the requirements.

·         Directors must receive training even if the scheme is only established for one of them. The key point is that; if the employer is the trustee (as is normal for one person schemes) then ALL the directors must complete the training.

Independent Trustee Company have developed an on-line tool to help those who are unsure of their requirements find out if they are actually required to complete the training.  It’s a quick process and can be found on www.trustee.ie

Investment in Ireland

When you consider the level of investment needed in Ireland to:
1. Pay for the banking crisis

2. Fund the government deficit

     3. Provide finance to long suffering businesses


You would think every aspect of our investment regime would be structured to maximise the flow of funds. In fact, the exact opposite is happening!

Irish pension funds are sitting on €80 billion in assets. A reducing amount of this is invested in Ireland.

Concerns about the level of equities in Pension Funds means they are selling equities. The volatility of Irish government debt means they cannot invest in this either. SME investment is handicapped by a range of Revenue rules dealing with close companies.

Even the annuity market cannot claim to be immune: whilst the yield on Irish Gilts rocket upwards annuity rates remain depressed because of the need to back them with German Bonds.

To borrow loosely from Coleridge: “Money Money everywhere and Everyone Going Broke”.


Author: Aidan McLoughlin


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Disclaimer: 

• The opinions expressed are those of the individuals rather than Independent Trustee Company.
• Independent Trustee Company does not take responsibility for the accuracy of any content.
• The contents cannot be construed as advice.
• We would strongly suggest that any information provided should be discussed with your financial adviser before any action is taken.

How Much is Too Much?

We all know that Irish pension funds lost more value in 2008 than the pension funds of any other major economy. Belatedly the Pension Board has indicated that this is because Irish pension funds have too much invested in Irish equities. How do they know this? The question isn’t as stupid as it sounds.

Basic investment philosophy for at least 5 decades has suggested that returns above inflation are best achieved by investing in real assets such as equities. Various investment gurus have established that the risk inherent in equity investment can be significantly reduced by:

1.                  investing over a long period of time

2.                  investing regular amounts rather than lump sums and

3.                  using a diversified portfolio

All of these are available to Irish pension funds.

In addition, our population profile would suggest we have one of the youngest populations in Europe and (until very recently) a growing population.

Does that not mean therefore that we should have more invested in equities than any other country in Europe? If this is the case then events like 2008 will have a short term impact on fund values. However, overall the fund should continue to out-perform in the long term.

Unless, of course, you decide to get out of equities at the bottom of the market – thereby crystallising the loss and missing the bounce. Which you might do if your Regulator was saying you had too much in equities.

Author: Aidan McLoughlin

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Disclaimer: 

• The opinions expressed are those of the individuals rather than Independent Trustee Company.
• Independent Trustee Company does not take responsibility for the accuracy of any content.
• The contents cannot be construed as advice.
• We would strongly suggest that any information provided should be discussed with your financial adviser before any action is taken.

The Not so Smart Economy

Attracting high-end employment into Ireland is more difficult than ever. How do you get the scientists and the decision makers to come to Ireland to drive on the development of the smart economy?

One smart idea would be to consider that the key decision makers are likely to be 45 plus and to be very conscious of pensions. If you have a generous pension system these individuals could see a real benefit to locating their key people here. There is no cost to Ireland as:

1.                  The benefits will be paid by employers at a tax cost of 12.5%

2.                  75% of the benefits will be taxed to income tax at rates of up to 50%

Just when you think we are onto a winner the government finds a way to mess it up. By proposing that tax free lumps above €200k be taxed, the government could generate tax savings of €4m to benefit the Irish economy ……and drive away multinationals worth billions a year for the economy!

Still “fumbling in the greasy till and adding the halfpence to the pence”.
How smart is that?

Disclaimer: 

• The opinions expressed are those of the individuals rather than Independent Trustee Company.
• Independent Trustee Company does not take responsibility for the accuracy of any content.
• The contents cannot be construed as advice.
• We would strongly suggest that any information provided should be discussed with your financial adviser before any action is taken.

The Battle of Britain 2

September is the month when the trustee training requirement went live. This means that multi-national employers establishing in Ireland, the potential saviours of the Irish economy, will probably have to subject ALL their executives to training in Irish Pensions Law!!

YES – as we face in to the greatest economic crisis this nation has ever known, with the eyes (and ears) of the financial world focussed on every financial move (and hoarse cough) we make, our government can assure them that at least the Pension Board has not been found wanting.

Consider the position of the Directors of British multinationals, many of whom have signalled the idea of establishing their international headquarters in Ireland. Their check-list will now look like this:

Tax rate	Excellent
Educated work force	Excellent
Favourable time zone	Excellent
English Speaking	Excellent
Requirement for all directors to spend 9 hours learning about Irish Pensions	*!!??**!!?

Never in the history of Financial Management has so much grief been caused for so little gain.

Disclaimer: 

• The opinions expressed are those of the individuals rather than Independent Trustee Company.
• Independent Trustee Company does not take responsibility for the accuracy of any content.
• The contents cannot be construed as advice.
• We would strongly suggest that any information provided should be discussed with your financial adviser before any action is taken.