UK Regulators Team Up on Pensions Strategy

UK regulators the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and The Pensions Regulator (TPR) are cooperating on a new pensions regulatory strategy in which they will outline how they will work together to confront the key risks facing the pensions sector over the next five to 10 years.

In a joint announcement, the FCA and TPR said they will hold a series of events with stakeholders in London, Edinburgh, and Manchester in the spring that will focus on their collective view of the current landscape of the sector, as well as their respective regulatory responsibilities.

“The last five years have seen significant change in the sector,” said the two regulators in a release. “For example, the introduction of the pension freedoms, which changed the way that people can access their retirement savings, and of automatic enrolment, which has seen more than 9 million people newly saving into workplace pension schemes.”

They said they will draw upon research from the FCA, and TPR’s ongoing “TPR Future” program, as well as other factors, such as the outcome of the Work and Pensions Select Committee’s inquiry into the pension freedoms, and the impact of the Department for Work and Pensions’ review of automatic enrollment.

The “TPR Future program” is a review intended to understand the current perceptions of TPR, what the future landscape and risks might look like, and how their approach might need to change in response to this.

The two regulators have different approaches to pension regulation, with the FCA looking to provide consumer protection and competition, while TPR has focused on improving pension governance standards, and enforcing automatic enrollment.

“As part of our ongoing efforts to ensure the sector works well for consumers and workplace pension savers, we are working together on a pensions strategy which will look at how we will work together, and with stakeholders, in the coming years,” they said.