The Association of Consulting Actuaries (ACA) has elected David Fairs FIA as its new Chairman. He is a Partner at KPMG UK and takes office on 1 June 2014 succeeding Andrew Vaughan, a partner at Barnett Waddingham, who has completed his two year term.
Commenting on his election, David Fairs said:
"The next year or so promises to be a very busy time again for both our members and the clients we serve across every size of business. I sense the recent Budget announcement has stimulated many companies to look afresh at retirement provision. The budget changes have also stimulated more people to think about their pension arrangements and, aside from the new freedoms – which we welcome, I think it is beginning to dawn on many more that they are not saving anything like enough to be able to fulfil their aspirations as they reach retirement. This is an area where the ACA feels more needs to be done to encourage both employers and employees to act, hopefully encouraged by Government.
“But, just as important is the Pension Minister’s initiative to encourage ‘defined ambition’ workplace schemes, providing greater flexibility for companies to design arrangements that meet their workforce profile whilst enabling employees to build better, more stable private pensions. The ACA has supported these ‘defined ambition’ arrangements for over a decade and I have worked alongside my predecessor, Andrew Vaughan, who has chaired the Defined Ambition Industry Working Group, supported by many other industry professionals, in developing the ideas outlined in the November 2013 consultation paper. We await developments – it is to be hoped long-term reforms are not lost to short-term electoral calculations.
“And we can also expect further policy ideas from all sides as we approach the 2015 General Election. I hope these will be positive in building on the wider provision that auto-enrolment is achieving, but it is important to maintain positive messages around pensions and retirement saving and not undermine progress by reducing the tax reliefs that make pension saving worthwhile today. As ever, the ACA under my chairmanship will continue to offer guidance to politicians and Government departments on both strategic matters and the fine detail of policy delivery, where we have been particularly active in recent years."
At the ACA's recent AGM, Bob Scott (Lane Clark & Peacock) was re-elected Honorary Secretary and Jenny Condron (Mercer) was elected Honorary Treasurer. The other ACA Main Committee Members elected for 2014-15 are Andrew Vaughan (Immediate Past Chairman from 1 June, Barnett Waddingham); Ted Belmont (Xafinity); Jonathan Teasdale (Aon Hewitt); Richard Cousins (PricewaterhouseCoopers); Richard Crowhurst (Hymans Robertson); Gail Higgins (Censeo); Peter Routledge (Towers Watson); Phil Simpson (Milliman); Steven Taylor (Deloitte), Hugh Nolan (Jardine Lloyd Thompson) and Steve Leake (Punter Southall).
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