Event details
'Can Collective Defined Contribution turn base metal into pensions gold?' a lecture by John Ralfe
The Pensions Bill, with legislation for “Collective Defined Contribution” pensions, has just been approved by the UK Parliament, and Royal Mail has said it will start CDC for all its employees as soon as it can.
CDC fans claim CDC bridges the gap between Defined Benefit and Defined Contribution pensions, providing a higher, and less volatile, pension than DC thanks to “inter-generational risk sharing”.
John Ralfe discusses what “inter-generational risk sharing” really means, how a “Fair” collective pension, behind the “veil of ignorance” works, and whether CDC, including the Royal Mail version, can really turn base metal into pensions gold, or is just “fools’ gold”.
Agenda:
3-3:40pm - Lecture by John Ralfe
3:40-3:50pm - Discussion between John and Professor David Miles, Imperial College Business School
3:50pm Onwards – Q&A from the audience
For those who missed this lecture, please find the recording here.
John Ralfe
John has been an independent pension consultant since 2003. His clients include FTSE100 and FTSE350 companies, and he is also chair of trustees of a small pension scheme. In 2016 he was an Expert Advisor to the Parliamentary Committee on its inquiry into BHS pensions. He was also a consultant to the Accounting Standards Board on FRS17 and the International Accounting Standards Board on share options. He has written many articles on pensions, including CDC, and is a regular contributor to the Financial Times, Times and the BBC Today Programme.
Until 2002 he was Head of Corporate Finance at Boots and instrumental in moving the £2.3bn Boots Pension Fund to 100% AAA long dated sterling bonds, followed by a Company share buyback, described by The Economist in 2006 as a “landmark”.
Prior to joining Boots he spent 11 years in banking and obtained a First in PPE in 1978, from Balliol College, Oxford and also studied economics at King’s College, Cambridge.