Korean IPA(Insurance & Pension Actuary)

그런데 최근 저금리가 지속되어 인플레이션을 감당하지 못하는 수준이 되다보니 연금수령보다 차라리 일시금을 수령해서 달리 노후를 대비하겠다는 사람이 늘고 있습니다.

이 과정에서 생각지도 못한 문제가 생겼습니다. 일시금을 연기금에서 빼가는 퇴직자에게 제대로 가치평가를 하지않고 후하게 줘서 내보낸다면 어찌될까요?
연기금의 재정건전정은 악화되고 그 피해는 고스란히 여전히 연금으로 수령하는 은퇴자들과 기금적립단계에 있는 재직자들에게 돌아가는 거죠.

그래서 영국 감독원(The Pensions Regulator)은 일시금으로 빼갈때의 값인 “cash equivalent transfer values”  (CETVs)가 과하다고 여겨지는 14개 연기금에 대해 가치산정 과정을 재검토해보라고 촉구했습니다.

출처 : https://www.ft.com/content/c9d497b0-aaa2-11e8-94bd-cba20d67390c?segmentid=acee4131-99c2-09d3-a635-873e61754ec6
 

 Pension schemes at risk from lump sum payouts, warns regulator
    
     Josephine Cumbo, Pensions Correspondent
  

   The Pensions Regulator has urged 14 company retirement schemes to consider cutting the cash offers made to members to give up their “gold standard” benefits, amid concern that “overly generous” payouts could damage the remaining funds.The amount of money flowing out of company “defined benefit” schemes reached a record £21bn over the past year, as tens of thousands of current and former workers converted their future retirement income stream into a cash lump sum. Many unretired members of these retirement plans, usually tied to final salary levels, were tempted to give up their pension rights by six-figure cash deals, at historical highs largely due to the effect of low interest rates inflating the lifetime value of the benefits.The Pensions Regulator wrote in February to the trustees of 14 plans experiencing high levels of requests from members to transfer their defined benefit rights, urging them to review the “cash equivalent transfer values” (CETVs), or deals offered. Concern over such transfers, which have accelerated since reform gave savers more freedom over their pension pots, have previously focused on the risk to individual savers of giving up a guaranteed lifetime income. But the letter also made clear the regulator was worried by the potential damage to the company pension funds of paying out large cash sums.“In light of the recent events concerning your scheme sponsors, we would expect you to take advice from your scheme actuary about whether the basis on which CETVs are calculated remained appropriate,” it said in a letter released following a freedom of information request.The regulator said this process would allow the trustees to “judge whether a reduction, or further reduction, should be applied to CETVs” in light of their assessment of the strength of the employer standing behind the pension scheme, also known as the covenant.The letter was sent to trustees of schemes, which were not named, as part of a drive to protect members from transfers that were not in their best interests, and from pension scams, as transfer activity peaked.Approximately 180,000 defined benefit pensions transfers took place in the two years to the end of March 2018, according to the regulator’s estimates.Steve Webb, director of policy with Royal London, which lodged the freedom of information request, said there was a concern that those transferring out were being offered cash lump sums on relatively generous terms at a time when the pension scheme itself might be in deficit or the employer regarded as vulnerable.“If large numbers of members transfer out on generous terms there would be a risk that the funding position of the scheme could worsen and the risk of remaining members not getting their full pensions could increase,” said Sir Steve. He believed the letter had been sent to the country’s largest schemes.

     Martin Hunter, principal with Xafinity Punter Southall, a consultancy, said: “The key overriding principle for trustees is to make sure the transfer offered is fair to the member, but the trustees need to make sure the remaining members are not disadvantaged by a transfer, if there’s a big deficit in the scheme.”Industry experts said CETVs had fallen at some defined benefit schemes after the letter was sent.“There are some schemes that are reducing their transfer values, because the funding level is low and or they have significant concerns about the covenant,” said Graham McLean, head of scheme funding, with Willis Towers Watson, the professional services firm.About £21bn of defined benefit transfers took place between April 2017 and March 2018, according to the Financial Conduct Authority. But the Office for National Statistics reported £37bn in transfers out of occupational schemes in 2017, up from £12.8bn the year before. This figure included transfers from defined contribution pension schemes, but experts said the figure was predominantly defined benefit transfers.The Pensions Regulator declined to say to whom the letter had been sent. Lloyds Banking Group and Barclays, who have both seen some of the highest levels of pension transfer activity of all FTSE 100 employers, said they had not been asked by the regulator to review the CETVs offered.