Regulator’s blog calls for shift in industry mindset on delivering DC value

The Regulator has published a blog published on July 12, 2023, in which Chief Executive Nausicaa Delfas suggests that there needs to be a “fundamental mindset shift throughout the pensions industry”. 

The Regulator welcomes the Government’s new package of pensions measures outlined in the Mansion House speech. It believes that widening the opportunities for CDC schemes and the introduction of a statutory regime for DB superfunds can help bring about improved governance and the necessary scale to achieve good outcomes. 

However, the Regulator indicates that a mindset shift is needed in relation to sophisticated investment governance practices, the scale to drive efficiency and highly qualified trustees challenging advisers to make sure all savers get the best possible pensions.

The intention is to overhaul its DC guidance to support trustees to make well-informed investment decisions and to reflect new duties on trustees to report on their policy on illiquid investments. 

In the autumn, the Regulator will provide new guidance on investing in productive finance and update its existing investment guidance for both DB and DC schemes. The new DB funding code will also clarify where DB schemes are able to accommodate investment in growth assets, particularly for open and immature schemes.