Pensions - Articles - Member Nominated Trustees crucial for pension governance

 Speaking at the Association of Consulting Actuaries Conference on Friday, David Weeks, co-Chair of the AMNT, commented: “The role of the MNT on trustee boards is sometimes underplayed or undervalued. The AMNT believes that is crucial for the running of a scheme that members are represented at the top table if the going gets rough. There have been several high profile examples of these troubles coming out of the blue recently and scheme members rightly want reassurance that they are represented in subsequent negotiations.

 “Good pension scheme governance should be viewed as a triangle, the three sides of which need to be kept in balance. Sponsoring employers form one of these sides, pension professionals form the second and pension scheme members, together with their MNTs, form the third and most important of the three sides.”

 Weeks added: “Members are particular comforted by having an MNT presence for their scheme. It helps them to feel reassured their retirement interests are truly being met and understood most importantly, but also that they aren’t being ripped off in excessive costs and charges. Scheme members must be happy that they are getting good value if they are to make higher levels of contribution needed to fund increasing numbers of years in retirement. The other sides of the triangle both have competing interest in this area -the employers can exploit situations of surplus and divert assets and the experts have an interest in generating income for themselves. The MNTs are the only ones who have no personal interest or gain other than that of the members’ best interests.”