When we started our careers in pensions in the 80s and 90s, the landscape was vastly different. Back then central Edinburgh and Glasgow were crammed with Scottish banks and insurance companies; so it was a bit of a no-brainer to start work in that sector. Although there has been huge consolidation in the financial services sector, it remains a key contributor to the Scottish economy.
Everything changes
It’s not surprising that jobs in pensions have changed quite a bit over the last 40 years. Between us we have worked for insurance companies, large consultancies, in-house teams and of course now work together at Vidett – as part of its award winning governance team, after being named ‘Team of the Year’ at the PMI Pinnacle Awards in December!
We feel fortunate to work in Scotland with pension trustees and sponsors which tend to have old legacy DB schemes, such as those in the financial services sector.
Karen: “I have particularly enjoyed a recent project supporting one of the banks’ in-house pension teams fill in their governance gaps so that they can comply with The Pensions Regulator’s (TPR) General Code.”
Moving with the times
While our banks have embraced technology and we can easily operate our bank accounts on our phones, pension providers have traditionally been a bit behind the curve. But now they’re catching up.
Current employees in private companies are now almost entirely in defined contribution (DC) schemes. As increasing regulation has pushed more and more UK pension schemes to transfer their DC members to DC master trusts, this area of the market has seen considerable growth and consolidation, with Scotland’s Standard Life and Scottish Widows master trusts both key players in this exciting area.
At Vidett, we’re proud to have had a five-year partnership with the Scottish Widows as a Trustee to their Master Trust which now has almost £3bn assets under management (AUM). According to TPR:
- 95% of active DC members are now in master trusts
- more DC members are now reaching retirement, and
- average pension pots are getting larger.
Therefore, the provision of innovative products with better use of technology together with helpful guidance is a key challenge for providers and professional trustees of master trusts.
A thriving sector
Young people today have a plethora of career options that were unimaginable a few decades ago, and job mobility is quite common in Scotland’s digital and tech industry. The sector is experiencing rapid growth, with tech roles increasing significantly not only in Edinburgh and Glasgow, but also in Dundee.
Competitive salaries and the dynamic nature of tech projects encourage professionals to seek new challenges and opportunities regularly. This mobility means it can be hard to keep track of multiple pension pots over many years of working, and lost pension pots are estimated to run into billions of pounds.
The Government’s solution to this problem is the very ambitious and costly pensions dashboards programme as they aim to enable individuals to access their pensions information online all in one place, making it easier to manage and plan for retirement. Let’s hope that this programme which brings together the financial services and tech sectors delivers!
Gillian: “It’s important to keep up with all the developments in technology, but what has given me most job satisfaction over the years is building strong relationships with colleagues and clients – that is based on trust and taking pride in delivering excellent service.”
For more information on any of the areas discussed above, please contact its authors Karen Henderson or Gillian Graham; both members of our Scotland team.
