Ten schemes publicly back Cost Transparency Initiative

In the statement the ten schemes stated: “We believe that greater cost transparency will help everyone achieve a better income in retirement.” The schemes “support the [CTI’s] commitment to promote understanding, raise awareness and encourage full transparency and standardisation of costs and charges”.

The pension funds said they also intend to use the tools and templates “as far as is appropriate to the specific circumstances” of their individual schemes.

The schemes – a mix of defined benefit and defined contribution plans – include: DHL Pensions Investment Fund, Kingfisher Pension Scheme, National Grid UK Pension Scheme, Nest, RBS Group Pension Fund, Royal Mail Pension Plan, Smart Pension, Superannuation Arrangements of the Universities of London (SAUL), The People’s Pension and Universities Superannuation Scheme.

The CTI is partnership initiative between the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA), the Investment Association (IA) and the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) Advisory Board.

CTI chairwoman Mel Duffield, who is also pensions strategy executive at the Universities Superannuation Scheme, said it was encouraging that “so many pension schemes have engaged and are adopting the standards”.

“We will work across the industry to encourage adoption and will be working with schemes and providers to showcase how important these standards can be for them and for the millions of savers who will ultimately see the benefits of greater cost transparency,” she continued.

The initiative was launched in November 2018 and aims to deliver greater value for money for savers through the introduction of industry standards using a set of templates and guidance that encourage transparent and standardised cost and charge information for institutional investors.

The standards facilitate the reporting of costs and charges in a standardised format, giving trustees the ability to make cost and charge comparisons across different investment management suppliers and asset classes.

CTI expects asset managers to be in a position to report against December 2019 and April 2020 year-ends using the new CTI tools. Information on costs and charges include total transaction costs, ongoing charges and incidental costs such as performance fees among others.