Raising Standards of Investment Governance
Horwath Clark Whitehill unveils the results of its new occupational pension schemes survey.
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The deepening financial crisis is already having an impact on investment decisions made by trustees of pension schemes, whether it is to postpone investments or to change asset allocations.
Worryingly, many schemes do not appear to be devoting sufficient attention to their collateral arrange-ments and counterparty risk, particularly in a financial |
| environment where there is uncertainty about which financial institutions will survive the current turmoil. |
Horwath Clark Whitehill surveyed the investment governance arrangements of occupational pension schemes. We collated 72 responses from trustees and pensions managers involved in investment governance arrangements of occupational pension schemes. Of the respondents, 87% are from schemes with net assets over £100m with 34% from schemes with net assets over
£1 billion.
The survey considers a number of issues including whether in a changed financial world gaps are being identified in investment governance arrangements. The findings from the survey also identify seven key steps to raising standards of investment governance.
If you would like to order a copy of the survey, please complete our order form.
Stand up and be counted
Everyone is understandably nervous about the impact of the ongoing financial crisis but,
says David Furst, the profession owes it to the world at large to stay calm and continue to
work with governments, regulators and the financial community to restore confidence.
Last month was extraordinary by any
measurement. Who would have thought that in
the space of a few days the Icelandic economy
would have collapsed, the world’s stock
exchanges would have gone into freefall, a number of
the UK’s leading banks would be part-nationalised and
leaders globally would have put their differences aside in
a concerted effort to bring the crisis to an end?
This is not the first draft of this article! Indeed, between
Accountancy going to press and your reading this page,
it may well be that events have again changed the
economic landscape fundamentally.
To read David Furst's article in this month's Accountancy, click here. To view previous articles by David Furst, visit our President's page.
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