According to some of Europe’s leading pension consultants, increasing complexity and the merging of advisory and implementation roles is introducing greater risk of disputes with clients and even legal liability.
At the same time, the need for more bespoke, scheme-specific solutions is improving the competitive landscape for consulting, especially in the UK, where the market is both highly important to the pensions industry and highly concentrated in the ‘big three’ of Mercer, Towers Watson and Aon Hewitt.
Not all consultants perceive there to have been an increase in disputes and misunderstandings as a result of the growing complexity of pension fund management, but even those who do not see a problem recognise the importance of a “clear understanding of expectations, obligations, guidelines, goals and visions” to maintaining a “cohesive relationship”.
Great complexity of solutions has often led to the recommendation of more delegated governance approaches such as implemented consulting and fiduciary management, and some respondents pointed to this as a potential source of dispute risk.
Full article on IPE (subscription required)
© IPE International Publishers Ltd.
Key
Hover over the blue highlighted
text to view the acronym meaning
Hover
over these icons for more information
Comments:
No Comments for this Article