4. INNOVATION AND DEVELOPMENT IN DC PENSIONS
The DC market in the UK has been through a period of unprecedented change in the last year. The freedom and choice reform has forced trustees and employers to drastically rethink their DC provision as retiring scheme members can now take their pot as cash, take an annuity or remain invested – or a combination of all three – meaning robust default fund design is essential. Meanwhile, the ramping up of auto-enrolment in the next couple of years will also place greater pressure on quality of advice.
For this category we asked asset managers to rate consultants based on their ability to prepare schemes for auto-enrolment, innovation in default fund design and ability to carry out due diligence around DC fund choices for platforms.
Willis Towers Watson was rated the highest with 3.80 points, with Mercer in second position with 3.20 points and Hymans Robertson a very close third with 3.31.
Four firms occupied the foot of the rankings, each with 2.00 points: Russell Investments, EY, Cardano and bfinance. However, these companies do not work directly in the DC space which explains their low ranking.
