Press Releases

Hymans Robertson LLP, the leading independent pensions and financial services consultancy has promoted - Michael Abramson and Emma McWilliam - to the role of equity member. This highlights Hymans Robertson’s ongoing growth following its centenary anniversary in 2021. As the firm continues to evolve, both promotions support the commitment to, and demonstrate the sustainability of, the firm’s successful Partnership structure.

Commenting on the DWP Consultation outcome, ‘Facilitating investment in illiquid assets by defined contribution pension schemes’, Callum Stewart, Head of DC Investment says:

“We are supportive of the DWP’s actions to facilitate investment in less liquid assets by DC schemes, although we don’t think excluding performance fees from the charge cap will be the silver bullet. But, we do agree that this is a strong signal to the industry that these should not prevent investment. We would encourage the DWP to continue to review which costs and charges should be included in disclosure requirements and how these interact with other disclosure obligations e.g. those required by the Investment Association...

Buy-in and buy-out market volumes were expected to be between £10bn and £12bn in the first half of 2022, according to Hymans Robertson’s latest survey of the insurance companies who offer pension scheme buy-ins. During the same six-month period, Hymans Robertson led the advice on £2.5bn of pension scheme risk transfer transactions.

The same insurers questioned by the leading pensions and financial services consultancy expected that buy-in and buy-out volumes would be close to £25bn in the second half of 2022. That would take the total for the whole of 2022 to be around £35bn, which would be more than a 25% increase on the 2021 volumes of £27.7bn.

Hymans Robertson is calling for Pension Schemes to be bolder when working with asset managers on their stewardship and responsible investment (RI) activities. The leading pensions and financial services firm makes the call as it launches its new guide for trustees: Effective Stewardship: Getting the most from your asset managers. The guide outlines the role of effective stewardship in helping to manage the climate change and ESG risks, to deliver returns with real-world impact.

Commenting on today’s announcement of the DWP Further Consultation on the draft Pensions Dashboards Regulations 2022, Karl Lidgley, client manager for third-party administration, Hymans Robertson, says:

“It is good to see the second consultation from the DWP look to confirm, and provide certainty, to administrative providers of the timescales the dashboard will bring. However, while greater certainty is most welcome we believe that the 90 day goal does not provide enough scope in the current climate to match resource requirement to meet anticipated demands...

Hymans Robertson, the leading pensions and financial services consultancy, is warning that DB pension scheme trustees are increasingly taking ESG considerations into account as they face buy-in decisions. They are being given this additional focus due to increasing environmental expectation of members. With buy-in becoming a more likely outcome for DB pension schemes, and growth in this area looking set to continue, the importance of ESG has never been greater for risk transfer.

Commenting as The Pensions Regulator (TPR) publishes new pensions dashboards guidance and launches its dashboards ‘Deadline’ campaign today, Paul Waters, Head of Digital Wealth, Hymans Robertson, says:

“Pensions dashboards have been a long time coming. Many in the industry have been working hard to design and agree the rules and processes needed to make dashboards a reality. So, it is a welcome to have a milestone of ‘12 months to go’ until the first schemes make their data available for members to access through dashboards...

Commenting on today’s ONS Consumer Price Inflation, David Walker, Chief Investment Officer, Hymans Robertson says:

“The persistently high levels of inflation will continue to have both a shorter and longer term impact of pension funds and their investments. One of the most significant impacts has been how inflation levels have fed through to interest rate rises and expectations around future rate rises, with some significant shifts in bond yields in recent weeks. At the recent MPC meeting the vote was 6-3 in favour of a 0.25% rise with the minority voting for the 0.5% increase, evidencing the steps that may have to be taken to manage the higher inflation levels we are experiencing. The resulting rises in longer term gilt yields which we have seen over the course of 2022 will continue to have a significant impact on pensions schemes...

The buyout cost for UK Defined Benefit (DB) Pension Schemes could be reduced by c£100bn by offering a clear range of options to DB members according to analysis by Hymans Robertson. This saving equates to broadly a three-year reduction in timescales for reaching buyout, providing huge value for DB schemes and their members, claims the leading pensions and financial services consultancy. It warns that many DB schemes are taking longer to reach their final point, unnecessarily, by not considering the role that member options can have.

Hymans Robertson, has boosted its established Responsible Investment (RI) team with several new members. The new appointments have been made to meet increasing client demand for support in developing and implementing RI strategies.

Hymans Robertson confirms that total pension scheme buy-in and buy-out volumes totalled £27.7bn in 2021 as it publishes it Half Year Risk Transfer Report.

Commenting on the impact on DB Pension Schemes from the increased Bank of England’s base rate announced today, Ross Fleming, Co-Head of DB Investment, Hymans Robertson, says:

“For defined benefit (DB) pension schemes the impact of any short term interest rate is unlikely to change funding ratios. However, the rise in gilt yields which are happening, will have an impact on Scheme funding. For those DB schemes that are not fully hedged against interest rate movements, this further rises in gilt yields could provide more welcome tailwinds for funding and present an opportunity to reduce risk and lock in funding gains. This increase could also have an impact on Schemes’ collateral positions, backing any interest rate protection currently in place..."