In this episode of V-FM Pensions hosts Darren and Nico chat to Žiga Vižintin, Director of Retirement Solutions at 'Pokojninska družba A pension fund' ('Pension Fund A') and author of the Irrational Retirement Blog. We chat the US election, a news story about Nordic regulators sending a joint letter to European regulators urging simpler pension regulation, statistics from the European regulator EIOPA showing low pensions participation across Europe, an unnamed UK pension scheme allocating 3% to B...
Nov 08, 2024•1 hr 36 min•Ep. 98
In this episode of V-FM Pensions, hosts Darren and Nico chat to Tan Suee Chieh, former CEO of Prudential Singapore, former CEO of Singapore's NTUC (National Trade Union Congress), and past President of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries. As well as chatting to Suee Chieh about how he got into pensions and value for money, we spend some time focussing on the proposed sale of Singapore’s NTUC Income to Allianz - a strong example of the importance of speaking up. We also chat about the proposed...
Nov 01, 2024•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 97
In this episode of V-FM Pensions, hosts Darren Philp and Nico Aspinall join Broadstone's Simon Kew and David Brooks for a V-FM/Pensions in Ten mashup to discuss Rachel Reeve's first Budget as Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Oct 31, 2024•44 min•Ep. 96
In this episode of V-FM Pensions, hosts Darren and Nico spend time chatting with Tomorrow’s Company Jonathan Maguire. Tomorrow’s Company is an organisation focused on inspiring businesses to be a force for good in society and Jon’s focus is on the state of the education system, particularly the lack of funding for special educational needs and the disconnect between the curriculum and the needs of young people. Less pensions chat in this episode, but a really positive and insightful discussion w...
Oct 25, 2024•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 95
In this episode of V-FM Pensions, hosts Darren and Nico chat to the CEO of the Irish Association of Pension Funds, Jerry Moriarty. As well as finding out what value for money means to Jerry, we learn about the Irish pension system and the proposed introduction of auto enrolment. We talk about lessons from the UK experience of introducing auto enrolment and pick up on the question of the FCA's value for money consultation which closed this week. We also chat about the recently published Mercer Gl...
Oct 18, 2024•1 hr 28 min•Ep. 94
In this episode of V-FM the pensions podcast, Darren and Nico chat to the legend that is David Porter. David is now an independent investment consultant who helps schemes and providers implement new approaches. As well as talking about what value for money means to David, we also chat Royal Mail CDC, CDC more generally and Willis Towers Watson arguing that DC is 'broken', deaths outnumbering births in the UK and the cost of a pint of beer!
Oct 11, 2024•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 93
In this episode of V-FM Pensions, hosts Darren and Nico chat with Morten Nilsson, CEO of Brightwell, about what value for money means to him. As we move to cover more than just defined contribution pensions we spend time talking about the challenges and rising costs of running defined benefit schemes, the impact and cost of advisers, and conflicts of interest within the pensions industry. We chat about the importance of consolidation, not just in the DC and LGPS sectors, but also for private sec...
Oct 04, 2024•1 hr 26 min•Ep. 92
In this episode of V-FM, the Pensions Podcast, hosts Darren and Nico are joined by Jonathan Hawkins, Propositions Lead at Bravura, to dive deep into what Value for Money (VFM) means in the pensions world. As we navigate Pensions Dashboard Week, Jonathan shares insights on the challenges and opportunities that the industry faces as it prepares for one of the biggest transformations in recent times. We discuss the impact of technology—or the lack thereof—in delivering VFM, the role of data quality...
Sep 27, 2024•1 hr 27 min•Ep. 91
In this episode of V-FM Pensions hosts Darren and Nico chat to their former boss and Chief Executive of the People's Partnership Patrick Heath-Lay. Patrick has been at People's (formerly B&CE) for his whole career and has a remarkable story of joining the organisation to deliver the mail and then working his way up to become CEO of one of the largest pension schemes in the country. We, of course, ask Patrick what value for money means to him, but we also have an in depth discussion about pol...
Sep 20, 2024•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 90
In this episode of V-FM pensions, hosts Darren and Nico chat about the Financial Conduct Authority's value for money consultation CP24-16. What do we like, what don't we like, what do we think will work, and where is there room for improvement? Listen to find out all this and more.
Sep 13, 2024•1 hr 25 min•Ep. 89
In this episode of V-FM Pensions, hosts Darren and Nico chat to DC consultant extraordinaire LCP's Steve Budge. Steve has an amazing career in pensions consultancy and we tap into his significant insights and knowledge of DC pensions as we navigate some of the big issues at the front of the industry's minds. The podcast was recorded on the launch day of the latest Pension Attention campaign so we discuss that. We also spend a lot of time chatting about the Government's pensions review call for e...
Sep 06, 2024•1 hr 25 min•Ep. 88
In this episode of V-FM pensions hosts Darren and Nico chat to the World Gold Council's Claire Lincoln. As well as having lots of experience in pensions and investments, Claire is an expert on wine... so, of course, alongside the usual V-FM chat we find out what vino for money means to her! A very wide ranging discussion this week where we cover the state of the economy and public finances, pensions tax relief, TPT research on the DB endgame, increasing minimum contribution levels, possible incr...
Aug 30, 2024•1 hr 35 min•Ep. 87
In this episode of V-FM Pensions, hosts Nico and Darren, talk to TOR's David Harris about planes, pensions, policy, and, of course, value for money. David has some amazing international pensions experience and his consultancy (celebrating its 20th year) is well know for creating international connections. He is also known for clocking up the air miles and spends more time in the air than on terra firma. As well as a bit of the expected cricket chatter, David confesses to being an Ipswich Town fa...
Aug 23, 2024•1 hr 28 min•Ep. 86
In this episode of V-FM Pensions, hosts Nico and Darren chat to the PPI's current deputy director Sarah Luheshi. Sarah is retiring at the end of August after an amazing career in the financial services industry, culminating with a fantastic 9 years at the Pensions Policy Institute. In a jam-packed podcast, as well as chatting about the weekly staple of value for money, we talk about Labour's pensions review and the need for it to take a holistic approach, the PPI's pensions framework, pensions a...
Aug 16, 2024•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 85
In this episode of V-FM Pensions, hosts Darren and Nico chat to IFM's Executive Director of Public Affairs and former Shadow Pensions Minister Gregg McClymont. Gregg returns to the podcast after being one of our first guests (episode #5) so we take the opportunity to find out what Gregg's been up to and look to get underneath the skin of what's driving change in the pensions industry. We talk about consolidation, scale, productive finance and draw on Gregg's significant experience and insight of...
Aug 09, 2024•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 84
In this episode of V-FM Pensions, hosts Darren and Nico chat to BNY's Head of Retirement, Richard Parkin. Richard is an industry stalwart with over 30 years experience in the industry and describes himself as a "card-carrying pensions and retirement geek." Perhaps he should also add to that that he is the 'Daddy Cool' of pensions... In another wide ranging episode we chat Mansion House reforms, the Government's decision to means test winter fuel payments, and the Turkish State Pension system. We...
Aug 02, 2024•1 hr 25 min•Ep. 83
In this episode of V-FM Pensions, Darren and Nico are again joined by the self-styled Jasper boys, John Mitchem and Jorik van Zanden for a whistle stop tour and discussion of world pensions. This episode is very much a Jasper takeover with the co-hosts (Ed: would you believe??) struggling to get a word in edgeways while John and Jorik talk about the common retirement challenges faced by nations around the globe. A crazy episode even by V-FM standards... but fantastic discussion and insight from ...
Jul 26, 2024•1 hr 27 min•Ep. 81
In this special episode of V-FM Pensions, co-hosts Darren and Nico chat about the Pensions Bill and the first phase of the new Government's pensions review. We discuss the Bill, including small pots consolidation, value for money and at retirement. We also chat about what might be in store from phase one of Labour's much trailed review of pensions, focusing on productive finance and what it might mean for consolidation across the pensions landscape.
Jul 23, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 82
In this episode of V-FM pensions Nico and Darren chat to CEO and co-founder of Wayhome, Nigel Purves. Wayhome have got some big ideas looking at how to join up thinking around pensions and housing so it was great to have Nigel on to chat through the societal issues we face and how we can think differently to deliver better outcomes for people. In an episode recorded on Wednesday morning, we talk about leadership and the resignation of Gareth Southgate, sidecar savings, the King's speech, lifetim...
Jul 19, 2024•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 80
In this episode of V-FM Pensions, hosts Darren and Nico chat to independent consultant and TPR non-exec director Alison Hatcher. In an episode that was recorded on the morning after England's win against the Netherlands we chat about the Euros, including a tweet from King Charles 'commanding' the nation to win against Spain on Sunday. We talk about Taylor Swift causing the Bank of England an interest rate headache, politics, pensions and productive finance, and the need to join up pensions with ...
Jul 12, 2024•1 hr 29 min•Ep. 79
In this episode of V-FM Pensions, hosts Nico and Darren chat to Jorik van Zanden and John Mitchem. During lockdown, Jorik and John founded the 'Jasper forum' - a community of like-minded international pensions and investment folk who regularly come together to discuss common issues and learnings. A great initiative! This is the first episode in a two part series. In this episode we do the traditional VFM thing of discussing the news, hearing a bit about John and Jorik's careers and discussing wh...
Jul 05, 2024•1 hr 26 min•Ep. 78
In this episode of V-FM Pensions, hosts Darren and Nico chat to Smart Pension's Director of Strategic Delivery Eve Read. Eve has seen it all when it coms to pensions having done every role going at Mercer, before joining NEST and now Smart Pension. A fantastic chat where we cover the Euros, fine wine, singing, renting in retirement, pension consolidation, transfers, conflicts of interest, politics, governance.... the list goes on and on! Eve also talks about the need for pension role models and ...
Jun 28, 2024•1 hr 24 min•Ep. 77
In this episode of V-FM Pensions co-hosts Darren and Nico chat to Standard Life's Mike Ambery. Mike is a pensions industry stalwart who has recently joined Standard Life after a long and illustrious career at Hymans Robertson. Mike is an Arsenal fan (he promised Darren use of his season ticket...) so he slots straight in to a quality chat about Arsenal, even pondering how England hero Jude Bellingham could fit into the Arsenal team.... Amongst the usual pensions and VFM chatter, we cover politic...
Jun 21, 2024•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 76
In this episode of V-FM Pensions, hosts Nico and Darren chat to fellow Gooner and editor of Pensions Expert Nick Reeve. Nick joins us supping water (not Pina Colada) from a pineapple shaped glass from sunny Barbados for a great chat about pensions, journalism and, of course, value for money. It was nice to turn the tables on Nick and be asking the questions, but he did manage to ask us a few searching questions... that journo instinct never goes away... Topics discussed this week include pension...
Jun 14, 2024•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 75
In this episode of V-FM Pensions hosts Darren and Nico chat to pensions industry legend and all round PR and policy superstar Tom McPhail. Tom is Director of Public Affairs at the Langcat and also is an external adviser at Guiide. This episode covers tax relief and the IFS proposals for the LTA, a good discussion about politics and pensions, fiduciary duty as a barrier to investing for the good of people and the planet... and a whole host more. We discuss the Barbie movie and Tom's new AI genera...
Jun 07, 2024•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 74
In this episode of V-FM Pensions hosts Darren and Nico chat to the editor of Corporate Adviser, John Greenwood. John returns to the V-FM podcast to chat about Corporate Advisers' latest Master Trust and GPP defaults report - an amazing piece of annual research that looks at performance of default funds and picks up on some key industry trends. We also discuss what value for money means to John.
May 31, 2024•1 hr 21 min•Ep. 72
In this episode of V-FM Pensions, hosts Nico and Darren talk to Pangea founder Nick Stoop. As well as the usual V-FM chat we talk about the election, shareholder resolutions, pensions regulation, and the recent IMF report on the UK economy. We have a great discussion about what Nick is trying to achieve with Pangea - a pension that considers everything through an impact lens.
May 24, 2024•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 73
In this episode of V-FM Pensions, hosts Darren and Nico chat to the Labour MP for East Ham and Chair of the Work and Pensions Select Committee Stephen Timms. Stephen has been an MP for over 30 years and shares his experiences and views on pensions and a whole lot more. In a V-FM Podcast first, this episode was recorded with a live audience at the DG Publishing DC Strategic Summit.
May 17, 2024•55 min•Ep. 71
In this episode of V-FM: the pensions podcast, hosts Darren and Nico chat to Pentech guru Martin Freeman. Martin has seen it all when it comes to pensions technology and administration and has recently set up his own company to help schemes and providers deal with the considerable administration and systems challenges that the pensions industry faces. We talk pension dashboards, pensions uprating, CDC, coffee, fountain pens and Manchester City (we wanted to get Martin on before the end of the se...
May 10, 2024•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 70
In this episode hosts Darren and Nico chat to all round pensions industry legend Sally Bridgeland. Tune in to find out how Margaret Thatcher encouraged Sally to get on her bike, how James Bond style space lasers are nearing reality, and how Sally got into pensions (inducing a discussion on sexism in the city and some of the barriers that Sally and others face). We discussed the People's Pensions new RI policy, Pensions Bee research covering investment in tech giants and why actuaries can't count...
May 03, 2024•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 69
