Investment risk remains the biggest concern among DB trustees, pension managers, and scheme sponsors, and seen as the factor most likely to prevent them paying member benefits, although there are growing concerns about the increasing regulatory burden and political risk.
Aon’s latest pension risk survey — which has been published every two years for over a decade — asked trustees managers and sponsoring companies to rank the potential risks they face.
Although there were differences between them, both trustees and sponsors ranked investment risk as the highest priority concern, with interest rates, inflation and longevity risk also featuring highly.
However Aon said it was noticeable that regulatory risk also featured in the top four risks for both trustees and sponsor — ahead of more traditionally considered risks for DB pension schemes such as liquidity and sponsor covenant.
Survey respondents were given the opportunity to highlight other risks not directly covered in the survey. Although there was a wide variety of responses, by far the biggest concern for schemes was regulatory burden and political uncertainty – gathering 44 per cent of the responses. Governance risk was cited by 22 percent of survey participants as a worry.
Aon says that respondents’ freeform comments underscored their concern with the pace and extent of regulatory change.
Aon partner head of UK retirement policy Matthew Arends says: “The two years since we conducted the last survey have been tumultuous for UK DB schemes. Coming out of the pandemic, we have seen growth assets rising in value but also the impact of 2022’s mini-Budget on gilt yields. There has been persistent high inflation, a raft of new regulatory requirements, and notable cyber incidents that have affected some pension schemes. Anyone running a pension scheme continues to face challenges and uncertainty as they navigate new forms of volatility.
“With this context, it is unsurprising to see regulatory risk high on the agenda of both sponsors and trustees. The survey highlights both the burden of the volume of regulatory change already required of schemes and also the big pipeline of changes on the way.”
He adds: “The survey responses demonstrate that political uncertainty and the lack of policy consistency on pensions were already worrying factors for schemes – even before the announcement in July of the wide-reaching Mansion House pension reforms which came after the survey responses were gathered.
“While change brings opportunities, the comments of respondents emphasise the challenges that trustees and sponsors face in ensuring risks and opportunities are prioritised appropriately.”
The UK survey had a total of 204 responses, covering DB schemes of all different sizes – from less than £100m to over £10bn. A total of 63 per cent of respondents were trustees, including professional trustees, while a quarter were pension managers, with most of the remainder representing scheme sponsors.