During the consultation period which ran from August to October 2013, the Board held public meetings in Dublin and Cork to discuss the matters raised in the consultation paper. The meetings were very well attended and were followed by 44 written submissions to the Board of which 6 were from individuals and 38 were from organisations/schemes.

Commenting on the consultation process, the Chief Executive of The Pensions Board, Mr. Brendan Kennedy said that: “The Board is encouraged by the level of engagement with its consultation on the future of DC pensions, especially as future occupational pension provision in Ireland is likely to be predominantly DC.

Whilst no conclusions have been drawn at this point, the Board welcomes all of the submissions received, which will assist in our deliberations for the next stage of the process in deciding what the future shape of DC will be”.

The Board will continue to analyse the submissions and in due course prepare a report for the Minister for Social Protection with its recommendations.

The consultation paper can be viewed here.

If you have any comments or questions regarding these consultation papers, please do not hesitate to contact us.

We recently held a number of briefings at which we presented ideas around new and growing opportunities in the Irish pensions market.

Along with an update on the Finance Act and the implications and opportunities it presents to advisors, we covered Defined Benefit scheme wind ups, one man DB schemes and potential business from the implementation of the AIFMD.

We also introduced presentations from two of our key partners for 2014, Eighty20 Focus and Clarus Investment Solutions.

Ian Mitchell of Eighty20 Focus had us thinking about what is really at the heart of our clients’ needs and what influences their financial behaviour.  He also brought some perspective on the prospect of a €60k pension.

Paul McCarville of Clarus Investment Solutions looked at issues around the use of risk profiling and relating risk profiling outcomes to client portfolios with a specific focus on absolute return, multi-asset and Exchange-Traded Funds. He also addressed the issue of continuing suitability and rebalancing of client portfolios.

Click below for a full copy of the presentations.

The Central Bank have a number of consultation papers ongoing at the moment. CP 68 deals with alternative funds under Alternative Investments Fund Management Directive (AIFMD) and unit trust schemes under the Unit Trust Act 1990 (including Exempt Unit Trusts, REITs etc.). This is an area of interest for many MiFID Firms and Trustee Companies and we will be posting any relevant submissions.  The consultation paper can be viewed here.

If you have any comments or questions regarding these consultation papers, please do not hesitate to contact us.