The Pensions Regulator has expanded its Denominations Panel with three new appointments, ahead of the master trust authorisation deadline, which starts in October.
Sarah Chambers, Antony Townsend and Mike Urmston will join the regulator’s decision making body as of September, where they will work alongside Tony Foster and David Latham, who have been appointed for another term.
The Determinations Panel, which now has a total of twelve members, is an independent unit within TPR which is in charge of making decisions when the regulators enforcement powers are being used.
In the case of the master trust authorisation deadline, which gives multi-employer pension schemes six months from October 2018 on to get regulatory approval to operate, the Determinations Panel will consider the application of each existing master trust.
Factoring in the initial recommendation provided by the regulator, the Panel will make a final decision whether a master trust should be authorised. Some 80 multi-employer schemes in the UK currently being defined as Master Trusts and will have to comply the regulators authorisation procedure.
With the three new members, the regulator aims add additional industry expertise to its panel ahead of the deadline. Chambers is currently the chair of the Legal Services Consumer Panel; an Electoral Commissioner; a Judicial Appointments Commission panellist (appointing judges at all levels); a Civil Aviation Authority Consumer Panel member; chair of the Applications Panel of the Renewable Energy Consumer Code.
Townsend takes on the role alongside his current position as Financial Regulators complaints commissioner. He is also chair of the UK and Ireland regulatory board of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and a member of its Global Regulatory Board, chair of the regulatory board of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, a member of the board of the Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care where he is chair of the Scrutiny Committee, and a trustee of South Warwickshire Citizens Advice.
Urmston joins the regulator un addition to his role as chair of Phoenix Life and with experience as an actuary, having worked among others as chief actuary and finance director in the UK with Aviva plc until 2006. He now has a portfolio of non-executive roles. He has also been a member of the FCA’s Regulatory Decisions Committee, a trustee of the Aviva Staff Pension Scheme and non-executive director of Ageas UK, Tesco Underwriting and Admin Re.
