The Pensions Regulator

Hobman takes European perspective at the EPI Summit

Ref: PN05-13
11 May 2005

Tony Hobman, chief executive of the Pensions Regulator in the UK, today spoke at the European Pensions and Investment (EPI) Summit in Switzerland.

Hobman said:

"There are always lessons to be learnt from how other countries address their pension challenges. Here in the UK, the recent substantial changes in pension regulation have been driven by national economic and social issues, but have also been informed by experience of our counterparts elsewhere in the world.

Across the world, there is clearly a wide variety of pension arrangements, legal systems and regulatory regimes. However, the pensions challenge is fundamentally the same for all of us: demographic changes, funding requirements, uncertainty about investment returns - all these are global issues. Our responses to the challenge will be varied, but we can - and must - learn from each other's experience."

Hobman discussed the extended powers of the new regulator, and how these will be used in a risk-based way. He looked at the broad picture of how the UK Pensions Regulator has responded to the challenges facing pensions and how this may be relevant in an international context.

Editor's notes

1. The European Pensions and Investment (EPI) Summit runs from 11-13 May 2005 and is being held at the Raffles Le Montreaux Palace in Switzerland.
2. Speakers include those from Sweden, UK, Holland, Switzerland, Italy, France and Hungary.
3. The Summit audience is senior pensions and investment executives from organisations over Europe. For further information on the Summit, visit www.epi-summit.com
4. Tony Hobman is the chief executive of the Pensions Regulator and represents the regulator at the Committee of European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Supervisors (CEIOPS).
5. The Pensions Regulator has been established as the new regulator of work-based pensions in the UK, with wider and more flexible powers under the Pensions Act 2004. It replaces Opra which has ceased to exist.
6. The new powers of the Pensions Regulator include the ability to:
7. • collect more detailed scheme information;
   • impose a statutory obligation on 'whistleblowers' to report suspected breaches of the legislation to the regulator;
   • issue improvement notices and third party notices, enabling the regulator to ensure problems are put right;
   • freeze a scheme that is at risk, while the regulator investigates; and
   • prohibit trustees who are judged not fit and proper to carry out their duties.