In this episode of the Burges Salmon Pensions Pod, Chris Brown and Callum Duckmanton discuss how AI is shaping the future of pensions. They cover trustees’ legal duties, the benefits and risks of using AI, practical steps for implementation, and insights from a recent industry event. A must listen for trustees and pensions professionals looking to stay ahead in a changing landscape.

Regular host Chris Brown (Partner) chats with Richard Pettit (Partner) and Elena O’Leary (Senior Associate) from Burges Salmon’s Pensions & Lifetime Savings Team about benefit and documentation audits – how they can supplement benefit specifications and why trustees and employers of DB Schemes might want to consider one.

In this episode, Chris Brown is joined by James Fisher from Willis Towers Watson and our very own Kate Granville Smith as they discuss ESG issues for pension schemes, with a focus on environmental sustainability. The key topics of discussion include the importance of ESG for pension schemes, understanding trustees' fiduciary duties in the context of ESG, practical steps for trustees to manage ESG risks and opportunities, and legal obligations and regulatory guidance on ESG.

In episode 5 of season 5, our host Chris Brown is joined by Chris Flood, Managing Director at Interpath, who leads the employer covenant team across London and the South of England.

In this episode they discuss The Pension Regulator’s updated covenant guidance, described as the last piece of the jigsaw to help schemes carry out valuations under the new DB funding code.

Key topics covered include the biggest changes to the previous regime, how to approach proportionality, what you can do to prepare, contingent assets and “look through” guarantees.

In this episode our trainees round up latest news stories; looking at the Mansion House and Budget announcements, the consultation on draft regulations for collective defined contribution schemes and The Pension Regulator’s review of the second year of climate-related financial disclosures. 

In this episode Chris Brown and Helen Norman discuss the assessment of fiduciary managers for DB Schemes with Peter Dorward, Managing Director of IC Select, part of IGG. In particular, they focus on what the relevant regulatory requirements are, what trustees should hope to achieve from assessing their fiduciary managers; and whether there is merit to delaying these assessments.

In this episode Chris Brown and Helen Norman discuss defined contribution investment with David Whitehair, Director of Institutional Business, UK DC at Janus Henderson Investors. They ask how the DC investment journey differs from DB and why is there so much interest in investment in private markets? With investment for UK growth high on the Government’s agenda, this is a very topical episode.

The episode is 27 minutes long.

In our first episode of season 5 of the Burges Salmon Pensions Pod, Helen Norman and Chris Brown are joined by Sarah Brown, UK Chief Actuary at Gallagher Benefit Services, to discuss the benefits of defined benefit risk transfer versus run-on.

Just like that we have reached the end of Season 4 of the Burges Salmon Pensions Pod.

The pensions insurance market has exploded over the last 12-24 months, so in our final episode Chris Brown and Helen Helen Norman are joined by Richard Hall, a partner at Argyll Covenant Advisory, to discuss insurer due diligence and how this can assist trustees.

With so many schemes now considering buy-ins/outs, Chris, Helen and Richard will cover: 

The episode is 19 minutes long.

In the latest episode of the Burges Salmon Pensions Pod, Chris and Helen are joined by Emma Moore (an Associate Partner at Aon) to discuss the gender pensions gap.

In this episode Chris, Helen and Emma cover: