We believe in better

Transcription

1 We believe in better

2 We believe that we should all expect more from the pensions market We are actuaries, consultants and administrators working to protect and enhance the benefits of hundreds of thousands of pension scheme members. We bring cutting edge solutions for the benefit of pension scheme trustees, members and sponsoring employers

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4 Introduction from Co-CEOs The pensions world today presents both big challenges and big opportunities. Trustees and sponsors of defined benefit schemes know all about the challenges: how to protect member benefits, plug funding gaps and manage risks in volatile markets where strong returns are increasingly difficult to find? At the same time trustees and employers are still digesting the impact of Freedom & Choice, and the new flexibilities it ushered in. For members, greater flexibility must be a good thing and it is a tremendous opportunity to provide better outcomes. But with this comes a need for smart solutions to give people access to the freedoms, whilst educating and protecting them to make sure they get good outcomes suitable for their personal needs. At Xafinity we are unashamedly dedicated to improving the way these challenges are confronted and opportunities grasped. We have one mission: to make things in the pensions world better for pension scheme members and our clients. It s all we think about, and it s where we are investing for the future. We are now a plc, with long-term blue chip backers. We have their support to challenge old ways of thinking, and to do things differently. We d love to talk to you about it. 2 Xafinity Group Paul Cuff Ben Bramhall Co-Chief Executive Officer Co-Chief Executive Officer 27 June June 2017

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6 Overview As the need to create financial security in later life becomes increasingly important for us all, Xafinity is changing the way that we think about pensions and the way that they are structured, protected and delivered. Our services Pensions advisory and administration We provide a comprehensive service offering for defined benefit pension scheme trustees. We provide highly tech-enabled actuarial and investment advice, and we have a complementary administration business so that we are able to provide a one stop shop for pensions support. We also frequently provide strategic advice to sponsoring employers on the options available to them to control pensions cost and risk. Coupled with advice on matters such as corporate transactions and the accounting treatment of pensions we can really help employers get to grips with pensions issues. We are experts in de-risking, providing support to trustees and sponsors on both asset and liability de-risking, including insurance transactions, and we have deep experience on member option exercises. SIPP and SSAS We provide, operate and administer SIPP and SSAS schemes for several thousand small groups or individual members. National Pension Trust (NPT) NPT is a multi-employer Defined Contribution scheme, governed by a Board of Professional Trustees to remove the governance and compliance burden for participating employers. It is one of only 3 schemes nationally that hold the new Pension Regulator s Retirement Quality Mark. HR Trustees We provide professional independent trustee services to occupational pension schemes, both defined benefit and defined contribution. 4 Xafinity Group

7 Our strengths 40 years experience 6UK locations employees clients Problem Solvers The combination of our expertise, creative and commercial approach and industry-leading technology provides better decision making for trustees, businesses and members. Creative and Commercial We are committed to changing the way people think about and manage pensions, and treat each situation uniquely to do the right thing for clients. People First Smart Technology 52m turnover 80% of our top 20 fee payers have been clients for over 10 years If you truly care, this changes the way you think and behave. We understand about helping people and developing relationships that last. Our technology delivers superior data, at pace, to inform smarter decisions and improved outcomes, and at better value. Xafinity Group 5

8 Spotlight on Radar Case study Radar Radar, our proprietary pensions modelling software, allows employers and trustees to have real-time insight into the status of their pension schemes, the drivers of this and, crucially, help with decisions about how to move forward. Historically, pension trustees and sponsors have not had access to up to date information about their pension schemes. They have had to rely on their consultants to provide vital information, but this is often in a format that gives little insight into the reasons for changes. Some trustees have to wait weeks for an update, which comes accompanied by a bill. Radar changes all this. With its intuitive, online dashboard, clients can monitor their funding and investment positions in real time, year-round. Radar s integrated approach means that clients can interrogate variables such as changes to investment strategy and evaluate alternative scenarios that may impact on the level of deficit or the amount of risk carried by the scheme. The result? Empowered clients, who are better informed, making better decisions. 6 Xafinity Group

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11 Spotlight on NPT Case study National Pension Trust Freedom & Choice was a revolution in pensions. Members of defined contribution schemes no longer had to buy an annuity; instead they could leave their money invested for longer, and they can access their retirement savings in patterns that suit their needs. The change has been embraced the vast majority of members now do not buy annuities. This was brilliant news for members but what about for trustees and employers? Their schemes were not set up to provide such flexibility. In many cases schemes still cannot, and the only way members have access to a flexible retirement is to leave the scheme they are in. And where do they go? This is a challenge there is a risk of people ending up somewhere with high charges, perhaps only limited flexibility, paying too much tax, or worse still there is the risk of people being scammed. National Pension Trust (NPT) is a solution to these problems. It is a multi-employer master trust, offering members full flexibility in retirement. It is highly tech-enabled, putting members in control, and being overseen by professional independent Trustees brings high standards of governance in all aspects of the way the scheme operates. Employers can have access to their own sections of the Trust, branded to look and feel like their own scheme, meaning they are providing a pension scheme highly valued by their employees. For employers there are no ongoing costs, and NPT s Trustees remove governance and compliance burdens. The economies of scale from supporting over 100 sponsoring employers and 25,000 members help keep member charges low and transparent, without compromising the high levels of support provided. NPT is a highly accredited and award winning solution. The uses of NPT vary. For many clients it is their main pension scheme provided to employees. It can also be used alongside an existing scheme as an at-retirement vehicle to complement an existing scheme by providing flexibility in retirement. Similarly NPT can also be used as a safe landing for members of defined benefit schemes who wish to take a transfer value at their retirement to access the flexibilities brought about by Freedom & Choice. Xafinity Group 9

12 Spotlight on trivial commutation Case study Trivial commutation Many pension schemes have members with an entitlement to a small pension. Maybe someone worked for an employer for only a couple of years in the 1980s and might now be entitled to a pension of 10 per month or so. Such members have the option to swap this pension for a one off cash sum in this example, the pension might be swapped for around 2,500. This is known as trivial commutation. This might well suit the member, and also makes sense for a pension scheme as shrinking the membership reduces the administration burden in some cases, the cost of administering the pension can be greater than the pension itself! At Xafinity, we have invested time and effort to be the very best at running bulk exercises to communicate this option to members. We developed our Centre of Excellence. At the heart of this is the idea that a bulk exercise like this is about people, not spreadsheets. So we developed a world class approach to communications, and trained a dedicated team armed with the best technology to deliver these exercises. We have run over 80 such bulk exercises. Our largest project was in January 2017, when we were appointed without a tender process to run an exercise on an 11bn scheme, to communicate with 10,000 members. 10 Xafinity Group

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14 Office locations If you would like more information about our products and services or want to get in touch please contact us on: T: E: Reading (Head office) Phoenix House 1 Station Hill Reading RG1 1NB T: Belfast Montgomery House Montgomery Street Belfast BT1 4NX T: London Crosswall London EC3N 2JY T: Leeds 10 South Parade Leeds LS1 5AL T: Manchester 82 King Street Manchester M2 4WQ T: Stirling Scotia House Castle Business Park Stirling FK9 4TZ T: Xafinity Group

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16 Registered Office Phoenix House 1 Station Hill Reading Berkshire RG1 1NB