Since then, we’ve long campaigned for tighter regulation of master trusts to protect savers. The measures introduced in the Pensions Bill today are much needed, if long overdue, and we are pleased to see its introduction.
However, one of the main areas of focus has been ensuring providers have sufficient capital. While the Pensions Bill tackles this to a large extent, which should help drive market consolidation, there are no de minimis capital requirements for providers entering the market which is a grave oversight. Providers should not be able to set up a master trust and accept pension contributions from savers if they have no solid financial foundations.
It is disappointing that the master trust assurance framework won’t be made compulsory as part of the licencing regime. The voluntary assurance framework was introduced as a quality standard to enable trustees of master trusts to demonstrate high standards of scheme governance and administration and making it compulsory and building on this existing framework seemed logical.”
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