Part 2: PRSA Reporting

One of the many advantages of the PRSA, from a client’s point of view, is the extensive reporting obligations imposed on the PRSA provider by the PRSA Regulations. From the advisor’s point of view this is the boring bit! You don't need to worry about them, as the PRSA provider we will look after all that. However, it might be useful for you to know.

1. A Preliminary Disclosure Certificate (PDC) must be provided to the client before they enter into a contract. The PDC specifies the benefits and the level of them which the client could reasonably expect to receive from the PRSA contract. The PDC is required to disclose all potential and actual commissions payable and details of any other charges. Note in a Non Standard PRSA this is usually a generic document.
2. Statement of Reasonable Projection (SORP) must be furnished to the contributor within seven days of the date of signing up to the PRSA. The PRSA provider is required to ensure the SORP contains a cancellation notice and information regarding charges. Following on from this, an SORP should be provided to the client on an annual basis. 
3. The PRSA provider is required to give to the client a Statement of Account at intervals not greater than six month’s duration.  This statement of account must:
• Show the total contributions paid since inception and, where a statement of account has previously been issued, the total contributions paid since the last statement.
• Where appropriate, distinguish between employer and employee contributions.
• Contain the PRSA value at the date of preparation of the statement. For this purpose the value is taken as the amount that would be available for transfer on the date of preparation of the statement.
4. The PRSA provider must provide an Investment Report to the client, at intervals not greater than six months, showing the investment performances of all funds in which the PRSA has invested in.

There is an old saying that says a camel is a horse designed by a committee. Well if that is the case a PRSA is definitely a pension designed by a committee of actuaries! No matter, it achieves a great result and we will deal with the onerous parts, so you can focus on the benefits the PRSA brings. 

Paul Gilmer

Pension Providers in the Firing Line

So here we are again – another pension provider under scrutiny, talks of shortfalls on funds, inspectors appointed, followed by negative reports in the media, the pension industry is caught again in the crosshairs.

Of course those of us who are a while in the pension industry will have seen negativity heaped on our industry before.  We had Equitable Life leaving hundreds of thousands of pensionholders short as they were unable to pay what they had promised. And we had Scottish Provident again leaving pension holders short as they slowly wound down their business in Ireland.

So what can we do? How can we demonstrate to people that their funds are safe and that not all pensions are subject to the same risks?

When Independent Trustee Company was founded 18 years ago we looked at existing pensions and we identified two key risks that could potentially cause harm to a pension holder and we took steps to eliminate them. These two risks are:

·         Balance Sheet Risk, and

·         Pooling Risk

Balance Sheet Risk

Balance Sheet risk occurs when a pension provider keeps the pensionholders assets on its own balance sheet. Effectively the clients pension assets and the pension providers own assets are held together on the balance sheet of the provider and if that provider gets into difficulty as we have seen with Equitable Life and Scottish Provident  then the clients assets can be called upon. 

In these circumstances the client unwittingly takes on a risk that he is not being rewarded for, though perhaps more importantly he faces the potential loss of some or his entire pension.

In the UK they have woken up to this problem and where an advisor fails to adequately explain the difference between assets being held on the provider’s balance sheet versus being held at arms length, they risk a future claim.

The solution is simple but effective. At Independent Trustee Company we hold no client assets on our balance sheet, all the pension assets are held under trust. This includes not just the ITC SSAS which is by its nature a trust but also the ITC ARF and our newly acquired ITC PRSA. No mixing of assets can occur and as a consequence we truly believe that we have the safest pensions on the Irish Market.

Pooling Risk

The second risk is pooling risk. This occurs when client assets are mixed together for administrative reasons. A typical example is a client asset account where all funds received from various pension holders are lodged and perhaps also where all funds paid out by the pension provider are paid out from.

The potential risk here is that clients’ funds can get confused, one client gets credited with the assets of another, or perhaps on the payments side a client is charged with a payment that relates to another client. The result is at best administrative confusion, at worst complete organisational and system chaos.

So how do you minimise the possibility of that happening?  Again the solution is simple, at Independent Trustee Company, each and every pension holder has a separate bank account even before  funds are contributed/transferred. And if they engage in an investment that is specific to them they have further separate accounts there also.

Of course if they combine with a number of other pensionholders to invest in say a syndicated property that investment will be a combined account. However only the portion that relates to the investment is combined, the pensionholders other assets are kept separate.   

We have found over the years that these two guiding principles allow our clients, (and indeed ourselves, those that regulate us, and those that insure us) to sleep well at night.  Perhaps these principles are what our industry needs going forward.  

1. Why the Vested PRSA is replacing the ARF as the most flexible retirement option

On the face of it, ARFs were finally accepted into the larger pensions family in the Finance Act 2011 when they were made available to all retiring members of Defined Contribution arrangements. However their increased recognition in legislative terms, while welcome, brings it line with a ‘Vested PRSA’ which has existed for some time..

Some of the attractions of the PRSA as a post retirement vehicle are:

1. Deemed drawdown-There is currently no compulsory drawdown requirement on a PRSA in retirement. An individual has the option at retirement to leave their assets invested in their PRSA until age 75 thereby deferring the payment of such taxes.
2. Pensions Levy – The pensions levy, while it applies to a PRSA pre-retirement, does not apply to a vested PRSA post retirement.
3. UK property-The UK tax authorities have sometimes had a difficulty recognising the Approved Retirement Fund (ARF) as a pension vehicle and as a consequence any UK rental income arising in the ARF is potentially subject to UK tax. They have had no difficulty recognizing the PRSA.as a pension vehicle.
4. Early Retirement -  If you are a company owner/director looking to retire early, and you have an occupational pension, the Revenue are likely to insist that you sell your shares in the employer company. However when you are retiring from a PRSA, while the Revenue will insist that it is a genuine retirement, they do not require a sale of shares.
5. Estate planning- As stated above you can transfer your benefits at retirement to a number of PRSAs, and you can access these over a number of years. The value of a PRSA where no lump sum has been drawn down, can pass directly to your estate on your death, effectively acting as a form of life assurance for those pension holders up to the age of 75 who do not need to access all their funds. This offers advantages over an ARF where once the 25% tax free lump sum has been drawn, further withdrawals are subject to income tax.(Note there may be pensions levy implications)  
6. Flexibilty- Assets in a Vested PRSA can at a later stage be transferred into an ARF. Under current rules ARF assets cannot be transferred into a PRSA. 
7. Pension Adjustment Orders: A little known feature of pension orders is that they can sometimes be varied at a later stage, creating a lot of heartache for people who thought they had a final settlement.   It is possible to  block the variation of a pension settlement on separation and divorce when the pension vehicle is a PRSA. However, this facility is not available for an Approved Retirement Fund. 
8. Defer the AMRF requirement: The recent Finance Act increased the AMRF requirement to €120,000. This requirement does not kick in for a PRSA until it becomes ‘in payment’ i.e. a further drawdown is taken from from the PRSA after the lump sum has been taken. The AMRF requirement is immediate for ARF holders who do not have a guaranteed pension income of €18,000 at the time of transfer to the ARF. 

PRSAs are playing an increasing role as a retirement planning vehicle. Whilst the ARF is still the retirement vehicle of choice for many clients, the flexibility of the PRSA offers Pension Advisors significant planning opportunities for their client at retirement. 

Paul Gilmer

Company Notice regarding the notice in the Irish Times

I’m writing to you regarding  a notice on page 27 of this morning’s Irish Times, the notice refers to the appointment of a receiver to Independent Trustee Company.

This notice is incorrect and our solicitors are communicating with the parties involved on this.

The notice itself relates to a particular investment property held on behalf of pension clients within a sub-fund of our Delta Fund. Independent Trustee Company act as trustees of the fund but we have no beneficial interest in the asset nor responsibility for its liabilities.

More generally it is useful to note that all of the properties held by Independent Trustee Company are contained within individual trust structures similar to this, thereby ring-fencing any liabilities attaching to them. In particular this means that neither the client nor Independent Trustee Company have any liability beyond this. In addition the liabilities of each client is ring-fenced from all other clients and indeed from other assets of the particular client.  

Independent Trustee Company is an Irish owned company, established in 1993. We employ over 50 staff & are the largest provider of self-administered pension structures in Ireland, we administer more than €750 million in client funds including 800 properties through 3000 pension structures. All our structures are held within individual trusts, which provide clients with superior pension security.

For those Advisors who contacted the office today, I would like to thank you for notifying us. If your clients are in anyway concerned following this notice please feel free to direct them to our website or alternatively they can call the office on (01) 6611 022.

Yours sincerely,



Michael Keyes
Sales and Marketing Director

PRSA Planning Points

Independent Trustee Company will be launching their new PRSA product over the coming weeks, to coincide with our launch and marketing campaign we will be outlining some of the key PRSA planning points with a particular focus on client benefits post retirement.

If you have any thoughts or questions relating to PRSA planning we would be delighted to hear from you and will look to deal with these queries through the blog.