FCA apologises after being hit with TPR fine

Monday, 27 January 2020 09:22

The Financial Conduct Authority’s pension scheme has apologised after being hit with a £2,000 fine from The Pensions Regulator over governance shortcomings.

The TPR fined its fellow regulator for non-compliance with governance rules between July and September 2019.

The fine affected the FCA Pension Plan with the FCA being fined along with the Accenture Retirement Savings Plan and the Salvus Master Trusts who were also fined £2,000 each.

The fines were part of a large number of fines of pension schemes published recently by The Pensions Regulator, mainly for non compliance.

The TPR ruled that the FCA Pension Plan should have:

• Provided additional specific detail on the regular training that members of the Trustee Board receive to maintain their knowledge in relation to the scheme’s governing documentation;

• Provided more historical detail on fund managers’ costs and charges for both default and non-default strategies, even though this had previously been put on the members’ website;

• Stated the specific date on which the most recent review of the investment strategy had taken place.

An FCA spokesman said the FCA Pension Plan Trustee has apologised to members for the breach and has reviewed “systems and processes.” It said the problems related to a switch to a Master Trust model for the scheme.

An FCA spokesman said today: “In considering the FCA Pension Plan’s application to become an authorised Master Trust, the Pensions Regulator reviewed its 2018 DC governance statement and ruled it contained insufficient detail.

“The FCA Pension Plan Trustee has apologised to members of the Plan, and reviewed systems and processes to ensure all the required information is available to members and the 2019 governance statement (provided in October) was fully compliant. The Plan’s application to become an authorised Master Trust has been approved.”

The TPR fine related to shortcomings in the ‘Chair’s Statement’ pension plans are required to make to confirm they have met governance standards.

The statements are used to ensure that pension plans are complying with all the scheme rules and TPR requirements and to confirm to members that these standards have been met by trustees.

The TPR declined to comment in detail about the case but told Financial Planning Today that non-compliant Chair’s Statements (or DC Governance Statements) were subject to a mandatory fine of between £500 and £2,000. The amount fined depends on the number of members in the scheme with money purchase benefits.

The TPR said: "The FCA Pension Plan did not comply with the law because it did not include all of the information that it should have. We will take action against the trustee of any scheme which fails to comply with the chair’s statement requirements."

• Editor's Note: Story updated 4.30 pm to add TPR comment.