Defined Benefit Pensions Conference 2025

Defined Benefit Pensions Conference 2025

25 February 2025 | 08:30 - 17:30

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Defined Benefit Pensions Conference 2025

Securing the future: Innovations and strategies in defined benefit pensions

This popular PMI event is focused on navigating the complexities and challenges within defined benefit schemes. Set against the backdrop of an ever-evolving financial landscape, the conference will provide a comprehensive exploration of critical topics shaping the pensions industry.

Industry experts and thought leaders will meet to discuss strategies for managing risks, optimising investment portfolios, and ensuring the sustainability of defined benefit pension schemes. Attendees can expect insightful sessions on regulatory updates, technological advancements and innovative solutions that impact pension fund management.

This conference is the ideal place to network and collaborate with peers to share best practices. With a keen emphasis on practical insights, the event also offers the opportunity for pension scheme trustees, investment managers, and advisers to stay abreast of the latest trends, exchange ideas, and gain a deeper understanding of the challenges and opportunities associated with defined benefit schemes.

Why attend?

  • Industry Insights: gain valuable knowledge about industry trends, regulatory updates, and emerging challenges in the DB pension space.
  • Networking: connect with pension professionals, fund managers, regulators and legal experts to share best practices and build professional relationships.
  • Expert speakers: learn from leading industry experts, thought leaders and policymakers who provide deep dives into relevant topics.
  • Risk Management: understand evolving strategies to manage funding deficits, longevity risk and investment volatility in defined benefit plans.
  • Professional Development: enhance your knowledge and skills, staying ahead in a rapidly evolving regulatory and financial landscape. Plus you can claim up to 7 CPD points.

Important notice: Please note, your place at this event will be confirmed by the PMI in a separate email following your registration via the booking link.

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    Fees

    Members: Free
    Affiliate and Corporate members: £600 (+VAT)
    Non-members: £1200 (+VAT)
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    In person

    event
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    Speakers

    10+
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    CPD

    7
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    Booking information

    Your place at this event will be confirmed by the PMI in a separate email following your registration via the booking link.

Event Details

THE BASICS

Topics of discussion:
  • Trends and Challenges in DB Agendas for 2025
  • Navigating DB Scheme Endgame
  • Leveraging Third-Party Capital for DB Scheme Support
  • Mansion House Reforms
  • Data and Dashboards
  • Economic Winds of Change: Assessing the Macro Impact on DB Schemes
Who should attend:
  • Pension scheme managers
  • Trustees
  • Administrators
  • Policy advisers
  • Consultants 
  • Lawyers
  • Corporate IFAs
  • Investment managers 
  • Actuaries
  • Financial directors 
The venue

In person - City of London

Agenda

More information to follow.

Chair
Bobby Riddaway
Bobby Riddaway
HS Trustees
Managing Director and Professional Trustee
08:30 - 09:00
Arrivals, registration & breakfast
09:00 - 09:05
Welcome
09:05 - 09:40
PPF Levy & The TPR Connection: Managing the Cost of Security
09:40 - 10:20
A tool kit not a Stanley knife – what’s available to help you prepare for success in an evolving landscape
Andrew Reid
Andrew Reid
BlackRock
Managing Director and Head, Defined Benefit Relationship Management

From refunding surpluses to new consolidators - 2025 is set to present a number of opportunities, as well as challenges, within the DB pensions landscape.

Explore key insights from 2024, understand how different sized schemes can equip themselves to solve aa variety of problems, and discover how you can benefit from currently unused tools amid market uncertainty.

10:20 - 10:55
Winding Up or Running On: Strategic Re-Risking and Surplus Management
10:55 - 11:25
Networking break
11:25 - 12:00
Where Have the Surpluses Gone? Implications for End Games
Richard Jones
Richard Jones
Punter Southall
Principal

The Gilts crisis in the autumn of 2022 had a significant impact on the funding levels of DB pension schemes, heralding in the era of surpluses. But recent revisions of industry numbers have highlighted inaccuracies of funding level data reported over that period. In this session we will look at the impact of the revisions and how they are reflected across the funding levels of the industry. Finally, we will discuss how capital backed journey plans are ideally placed to support schemes in all stages of their journey to their end games.

12:05 - 12:40
Breakout Session: Mortality Manifest

More details coming soon.

12:05 - 12:40
Breakout Session: Economic Winds of Change: Assessing the Macro Impact on DB Schemes
12:40 - 13:40
Lunch and Networking
13:40 - 14:15
Connecting the dots between BPA and ESG factors
Valeria Piani
Valeria Piani
Phoenix Group
Head of Stewardship
Alex Oakley
Alex Oakley
Standard Life
BPA Transaction Manager

As sustainability becomes an increasingly important consideration for pension schemes, Alex Oakley and Valeria Piani from Standard Life, part of Phoenix Group, explore the role of bulk purchase annuities (BPA) in this evolving landscape. In this discussion, they examine key decisions in the BPA process – from selecting the right provider to understanding the long-term impact on members after buyout. This talk connects the dots between BPA and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) factors, shedding light on how pension schemes can integrate sustainability goals throughout the buyout journey.

14:20 - 14:55
Breakout Session: The DB Endgame Landscape – Innovation, Consolidation, and Efficiency

As DB schemes approach their endgame, the landscape is evolving with new trends and innovative solutions. This session will explore the future of DB endgame strategies, including the growing role of scheme consolidation to drive efficiency and spread risk.

14:20 - 14:55
Breakout Session: Unlocking the Power of Dashboards: The Future of DB Data Transparency

Pensions dashboards have the potential to revolutionise how data is accessed and used, but are schemes ready to embrace this transformative technology? This session will delve into the opportunities and challenges of implementing dashboards for Defined Benefit schemes, exploring how they can enhance member engagement, improve decision-making, and drive greater transparency.

 

14:55 - 15:25
Networking Break
15:25 - 16:00
Panel Discussion: Balancing Member Outcomes with Fiduciary Duty

Exploring how trustees and sponsors can prioritise member outcomes while upholding their fiduciary responsibilities in an evolving regulatory and economic landscape.

 

16:00 - 16:35
The Future of DB Pensions in 2025 and Beyond

This session will explore the challenges facing DB pensions today, the pace of scheme wind-ups, and whether current trends signal a slowdown. What does the future hold for DB schemes in the UK?

16:35 - 17:35
Networking Drinks Reception

Speakers

More information to follow.

Alex Oakley
Alex Oakley
Standard Life
- BPA Transaction Manager

Alex is a BPA Transaction Manager at Standard Life, managing the pricing and submission of bids for buy-ins, and then navigating execution. Alex has a particular focus on articulating Standard Life’s sustainability strategy for BPA clients. Previously, he was a pricing actuary, supporting a number of Standard Life’s biggest and most complex transactions. Prior to joining Standard Life in early 2021, he was a pensions risk transfer consultant at a leading EBC.

Andrew Reid
Andrew Reid
BlackRock
- Managing Director and Head, Defined Benefit Relationship Management

Andrew Reid, Managing Director, is Head of BlackRock's Defined Benefit Relationship Management Team. The RM team is responsible for understanding the objectives of our pension scheme clients and ensuring the firm delivers solutions to enable clients to meet those objectives. Mr. Reid has over three decades of experience working in UK pensions in global markets, asset management and pension consulting. In previous roles, Mr. Reid was Head of Corporate Consulting at Watson Wyatt (now WTW) and has held global leadership roles on a longevity structuring desk at Credit Suisse and a pensions sales desk at Deutsche Bank. He has held non-executive roles as chairman of a pension scheme’s investment committee and on a longevity swap platform. Most recently, Mr. Reid was the UK head of business development at Insight Investment. Mr. Reid is a Fellow of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries. He holds an MA in Mathematics from the University of Oxford.

Bobby Riddaway
Bobby Riddaway
HS Trustees
- Managing Director and Professional Trustee

Bobby is Managing Director of HS Trustees and a Professional with over 30 years’ experience in pensions and investments. He is currently Chair of Trustees on the DB Scheme of a London based firm of Lawyers. He is also Chair of the recently launched Trustee Sustainability Working Group. He is a regular speaker on DB, DC and ESG/ Stewardship issues and is looking to assist both the industry and his Pension Schemes develop in these areas. He is also currently an asset owner member of the AIMSE Europe council and past Chair of the ACA Investment Committee.
During his career Bobby has worked with some of the largest and smallest pension schemes in the UK across all areas. He is an actuary by profession and has worked as both an Investment Consultant and a With-Profit Actuary.

Richard Jones
Richard Jones
Punter Southall
- Principal

Richard Jones is the Managing Director of Punter Southall Pensions Solutions. He is a qualified actuary with almost 25 years industry experience, including over a decade heading up Punter Southall’s specialist employer consulting division, prior to the sale of all the pension consulting businesses in 2018. His particular specialism is the interaction of employer covenant with funding and investment, helping schemes to understand and navigate to the best long-term outcome for their specific circumstances. He has led over 300 complex pension projects during his career.

Valeria Piani
Valeria Piani
Phoenix Group
- Head of Stewardship

Valeria Piani is Head of Stewardship at Phoenix Group. She joined the firm in September 2021 to lead the in-house stewardship team and collaborate with Phoenix’s Asset Management partners to influence ESG performance by investee companies. She has over 17 years of experience in the industry and has held a number of senior positions at different firms. She joined UBS Asset Management in 2017 as Strategic Engagement Lead responsible for the manager’s climate change engagement programme, stewardship reporting and integration research in the industrial sector. Prior to this, Valeria worked for nine years as Associate Director at the UN-backed Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) where she managed a team of 11 members responsible for coordinating investor collaborative engagement activities with companies on a range of ESG issues. When at the PRI, she supported over 30 investors coalitions involving more than 200 asset owners and investment managers. Topics included among others director nomination, gender diversity, emissions reduction and human rights. Her recent publications include reports on engaging on climate change and the added value of stewardship more broadly. Her research on the effectiveness of shareholders’ collaborative engagement activities with companies on ESG issues has been published by the Business & Society Journal and Emerald Group Publishing and was selected by the editors as an Outstanding Author Contribution in the Emerald Literati Network Awards for Excellence. In addition to being a member of the CA100+ Global Steering Committee, Valeria is also a member of the IIGCC Advisory Group of Corporate Programme and the PRI Advisory Committee of Advance.

Thank you to our sponsors and partners for their support

BlackRock
BlackRock
Sponsor
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Mortality Manifest
Mortality Manifest
Insight Partner
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Standard Life
Standard Life
Sponsor
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Punter Southall
Punter Southall
Silver Sponsor
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Portfolio Institutional
Portfolio Institutional
Media Partner
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