Thursday, August 15, 2013
'Lots of talk but no action to tackle pensions crisis'
Monday, August 12, 2013
Job Vacancy: Minister for Pensions
Aidan McLoughlin speaks about the need for a dedicated pensions minister in Ireland on RTE Radio 1's 'Morning Ireland'.
Aidan states "There has been much talk about Ireland emulating
the pension regime of other countries, Australia and the UK in particular.
Critically, each of those countries has a dedicated pensions minister at a time
when reform was required."
Click here to listen to the full interview.
Thursday, July 25, 2013
The Young IBA Croagh Patrick Climb, 2013
Saturday, July 20th, saw over 160
Insurance industry colleagues climb to the top of Croagh Patrick in aid of a
very worthy cause; Saint Vincent de Paul charity. This event was organised by the Young IBA and
was a resounding success. Everyone
reached the top and enjoyed scenic panoramic views of Mayo and a great sense of
accomplishment. The sun shined down on
the climbers throughout the journey with clear blue skies all around. Everyone made it back down without any major
injuries and met in the pub at the foot of Croagh Patrick to celebrate the
achievement.
ITC were proud sponsors of the Young IBA Climb for
the fourth consecutive year. The event
is set to raise a significant amount in aid of Saint Vincent de Paul. Well done to all involved!
www.independent-trustee.com
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
Ask Us Any Question
Here at Independent Trustee Company we are always
looking to enhance and improve communication with you and your clients. This is why we have implemented a new Q&A
platform to our website; www.independent-trustee.com. It is called Pubble and it allows you to ask
questions in an interactive way and receive immediate responses. Being able to communicate clearly and
effectively with advisors is one of the most important aspects of our business,
and while we have a FAQ section on the website, Pubble allows you to get answers
to more specific questions through the ITC website. Lots of universities are
using this today, however, we are the first in the pension industry to use it.
The benefits of Pubble are as follows:
1) Enables
visitors to ask questions relating to the content on that particular page and
find answers
2) Delivers
questions direct to the relavant ITC
staff
3) Allows
visitors to view other questions which have been answered on each page
4) Ensures
that our FAQs are relevant and up to date.
We hope this will change how we interact with our
audience while continually enhancing our web site. The web is being rebuilt around people and
ITC want to put you at the centre of our website. If you have any question you would like to
ask us regarding the content of our website or about Pubble please visit www.independent-trustee.com and
click on the questions tab. We look
forward to hearing from you and answering all of your questions!
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
ITC to sponsor Young IBA Climb 2013
Independent Trustee Company are delighted to once again support the
YIBA annual charity event for the fourth consecutive year. The charity of
choice for 2013 is St. Vincent de Paul.
The event will take place on 20th July this year and the challenge once
again is Croagh Patrick! All details of accommodation, the online donation page
and registry links are available here.
Interested in climbing Croagh Patrick with your industry peers in aid
of St. Vincent de Paul? Join the YIBA Committee, broker staff, insurance staff,
family, friends and ITC staff on 20th July 2013 as we ascend the Reek followed
by some food, drink, music and plenty of craic. No entry fee, no minimum amount
to be raised- just turn up, climb and raise as much as you can for St. Vincent
de Paul. It is guaranteed to be a great weekend so if you are interested in
taking part, or donating to the cause, please click on the above link.
Get involved!
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
What is the Value of a Promise?
It is estimated that
90% of defined benefit schemes in Ireland are in deficit and that the pension
schemes of 200,000 individuals are in danger of collapse with the new rules
regarding funding requirements. You will
most likely see more of your clients coming to you asking what to do next.
The defined benefit
scheme was the holy grail of pension schemes for a long time. You were guaranteed a certain level of
pension in retirement based on your years of service and salary. What you effectively have is a promise and
now you must ask yourself what value you
can put on a promise from a scheme which is in deficit. When advising clients who are considering
exiting a defined benefit scheme, you must take particular care. The client is considering giving up what
could be a very valuable benefit, if the scheme can deliver on the
promise. However, if there are doubts as
to the ability of the scheme to deliver or even survive, you would need to
consider whether the client would be better off taking a transfer value now and
putting those funds to work for them.
When an individual
ceases employment or leaves a company pension scheme, or the company pension
scheme is wound up, there are a number of options available to them. Taking the transfer value to a buy out bond
is becoming increasingly popular among clients.
The trustees of the existing company pension scheme will establish a buy
out bond in the individual’s name and transfer the value of their benefits to
the bond. The aim is to put the
individual in control of their pension benefits. The buy out bond has fewer restrictions with
regards to investments and often more favourable costs than a PRSA. The buy out bond can also provide greater
flexibility when accessing benefits.
Independent
Trustee Company has recently launched their new Buy Out Bond. To find out more about ITC’s BOB download our Brochure & Terms
and Conditions.
Written
by Jennie Faughnan
ITC Consulting
For
further information contact our team to discuss:
Michael
Keyes (01) 614 8045 / michael.keyes@independent-trustee.com
Sean
Mc Loughlin (01) 614 9220 / sean.mcloughlin@independent-trustee.com
Martin
Glennon (01) 603 5130 / martin.glennon@independent-trustee.com
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
Ignoring the Elephant in the Room
The Social welfare and Pensions (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2013 was announced by the Minister for Social Protection, Joan Burton TD on 22nd May 2013. The main pension provisions of the Bill were:
§ The
Pensions Board will change its name to Pensions Authority and its governance is
to change. The Pensions Authority will
consist of an independent chairperson appointed by the Minister for Social
Protection and 2 ordinary members, one nominated by the Minister for Social
Protection and a representative of the Minister for Finance.
§ A
new Pensions Council will be established.
The Pensions Council will have a purely advisory function. The Pensions Council will consist of:
v A
chairperson;
v A
representative of the Minister for Social Protection;
v The
Pensions Regulator;
v A
representative of the Central Bank;
v A
representative of the Department for Public Expenditure and reform; and
v Up
to 8 other members who the Minister for Social Protection considers to have the
relevant skills, specialist knowledge, experience or expertise to enable them
to carry out their functions under the Pensions Act.
§ The
name of the chief executive of the Pensions Board will be changed to the
Pensions Regulator and s/he will be a member of the Pensions Council.
§ The
Pensions Board will be given the power to wind up a pension scheme where the
scheme is underfunded and the trustees and employer are not in a position to
adopt a funding proposal, and where the trustees of the scheme fail to comply
with a section 50 direction to restructure scheme benefits.
§ The
introduction of a provision for an appeal to the High Court on a point of law
following such a direction from the Pensions Board, or following a direction
from the Pensions Board regarding a Section 50 order to reduce benefits “made other than on application by the
trustees”.
While the above changes
to the governance and oversight of pensions are largely welcomed, what is
disappointing is that the Bill does not include the much promised proposed
reform to the priority order rule, i.e. the order in which assets are
distributed when a defined benefit pension scheme is in wind-up. With a deadline of 30 June 2013 for the
submission of funding proposals, for many schemes the decision not to address
this issue in this Bill would seem to be a missed opportunity to reinstate some
fairness between members of defined benefit schemes.
The reason given by the
Minister for not dealing with this issue is the recent Waterford Crystal case
in which the EU ruled that the Irish government had failed to implement the EU
Directive requiring governments to provide protection for scheme members where
the employer was insolvent. While it is
of some relevance, the feeling is that this is just an excuse for the Minister
failing to grasp the nettle of pension reform.
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