mallowstreet week: The future calling, #StrongerTogether and going professional

Pardon the Interruption

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The government has announced at least “three more weeks of lockdown” to the surprise of no one. This week’s edition of the mallowstreet week is dedicated to how the pension industry is shaped for the upcoming challenge. 


The future calling

Chris Roberts
’ article on the new norm of trustee meetings has really hit a note with the community this week. Not only was it the most read article for the week, but it also had the most comments. 

It is a trying time for trustee boards and their communications, but it is comforting that the industry seems to not only be coming to terms with an increased presence of technology in comms but benefiting from it as well.

How much more efficient, both financially and environmentally, are your boards now that you are “no longer demanding to see 'the whites of the eye'” of investment opportunities, as Chris put it?

Read the full article here

An interesting theme also appeared in the comments of video chat etiquette… here is a fun game for you all to play on your calls next week:



How long do you think the lockdown and the need for a digital board will last?

Check out our exclusive trustee insights in our weekly COVID Concern Index write-up here. And to take part in this initiative, please click here to take our short weekly three-minute survey.

#StrongerTogether

The Pensions Regulator has called for all trustees to help protect savers by coming together. Fear has set in among many members and could be causing them to potentially make a “rushed decision that they come to regret”, said TPR’s Charles Counsell OBE. The consequences could be disastrous, he added, especially with “the heightened risk of members being targeted by scammers during the pandemic”. 

What are your views on this? Are scammers on your fund’s risk radar?

View article

One group who will be proactive during this time performing an invaluable service to schemes are the administrators. In
Gillian Graham
’s article ‘Administrators – feel the love’, she notes a conversation with a risk manager who said: 

“If someone had told us a few months ago we would need to get 1,200 staff with home working capability in three weeks, we would have laughed. Just goes to show with the right mindset and all hands on deck what can be achieved. It is funny how in the past there was always a view that for administration staff home working for more than the odd day here and there wasn’t workable. Perhaps industry will take a different view in the future now.”

The truth is, we need all parts of schemes and the entire industry to give the extra 10-20% to get us through this crisis and ensure there are better pensions for everyone when this is all done. 

So we want to hear from you who are your personal pension heroes… those who are doing everything in their power to better the lives of those whose futures are under their care. Leave us a comment and a description - it can be your virtual clapping for them.

Going professional

Finally, we leave you this week with mallowstreet talks, where we had the pleasure of speaking with Neil McPherson about the route to becoming a professional trustee! Check out the podcast below:

That’s all from us this week! Have a lovely weekend, stay safe, stay connected.

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