Accurate interpretation of future market developments and policy announcements will be a necessity for pension managers as part of their efforts to chart a smooth course to growth, whilst avoiding stormy waters. 

There are signs that a new world order is forming with Asia fast establishing itself as an economic powerbase and eurozone stresses further demonstrating the gulf in the fortunes between East and West. But what does the next 12 months have in store and how can the industry best react?

• What are the biggest considerations for UK pension funds, in the short term, medium term and long term?
• Should pension schemes plan for increases in inflation and interest rates?
• The global debt crisis – how long will the US and Europe take to recover?
• Which markets should schemes be looking to for growth?

Low interest rates and low yields are driving a fundamental re-think of de-risking strategies with many traditionally-held assumptions turned on their head as managers attempt to close the funding gap. In this panel, experts will discuss: What product innovations are being driven by the current economic climate?

• How are low yields affecting the annuity market?
• How are providers and funds building process improvements to better exploit market timing? What are the implications for data collection and analysis?
• How are trustees assessing de-risking strategies in the current climate? How should providers engage?

Early opt-out rates reported by Pensions Week have seen dramatically fewer people rejecting workplace savings than expected, at the largest companies. Is this good news set to continue as we get to the smaller employers? The government has consulted on a range of simplifications to ensure this reform gets to the finish line, but are these a help or an unwelcome change of rules for employers and schemes?

• Early experience of auto-enrolment: successes and challenges.
• How to keep people in the schemes and crucially saving more?
• For those employers enrolling later in 2013 and into 2014, what are the potential pitfalls and how should they be managed?
• With the majority heading into defined contribution schemes, has the Pensions Regulator’s DC framework created regulatory arbitrage away from trust-based schemes and into contract-based?

How are Local Authority Pension Funds adapting to current market conditions and dealing with local government reform?

Speaker:
Jeff Houston, Head of Pensions, The Local Government Association
Nicola Mark, Head of Pension Fund, Norfolk Pension Fund

A leading expert on pensions regulation discusses how capital markets and reforms are helping and hindering pension funds, with a particular focus on rapidly evolving regulation in DC pensions.

Speaker: Andrew Warwick-Thompson, Executive Director for defined contribution (DC), governance and administration, The Pensions Regulator