Matheson Pensions and Benefits Podcast Deirdre Cummins

In June of this year, Geraldine Carr, a partner in the Employment team and Jane McKeever, a senior associate in the Pensions team hosted a seminar on working beyond retirement age. They were joined by Garry Clarke, a senior retirement consultant with Aon. Deirdre Cummins, a partner in the Pensions team, chaired the discussion.
The panel discussed the various legal issues that arise for employers and pension scheme trustees when employees wish to work beyond their contractual retirement age. This included analysis of the current position in Ireland on mandatory retirement ages and how employers are dealing with requests to work beyond that age, including how pensions may be affected.  The panel also discussed whether these arrangements could raise any discrimination concerns. 

In this episode, Samantha Brown and Rachel Pinto of Herbert Smith Freehills share lessons they have taken from the UK market in bulk annuity transactions and also provide tips for making the transaction process more efficient. 

In this episode, Jane McKeever, a senior associate from the Employment Pensions and Benefits Group at Matheson, explores the main trustee and employer considerations when an annuity buy-in is proposed.  Darren Maher, head of Matheson’s Financial Institutions Group also examines the insurance angle and highlights some of the issues to be borne in mind when structuring and documenting these transactions.

In this episode, John O’Brien of Mercer discusses the different types of liability management exercises currently being seen across the market and how annuity buy-ins can assist with managing liabilities and reducing volatility. 

In this episode, Deirdre and Jane discuss some of the common issues that can arise when trustees are faced with making a decision around the payment of death benefits. They provide guidance around what constitutes a robust decision making process and also outline steps that trustees can take to avoid their decisions in this area being disputed.

The new EU Directive on the activities and supervision of institutions for occupational retirement provision (commonly known as “IORP II”) is due to be transposed into Irish law by 13 January 2019. Amongst other things, IORP II seeks to improve the governance of pension schemes and promote risk-based supervision. When implemented, it will require significant changes to be made by many Irish pension schemes. In this episode, Deirdre and Jane discuss the aspects of the Directive that are likely to impact most on Irish pension schemes. In the absence of draft implementing legislation at national level, they consider what guidance can be offered by recent pensions related consultation papers and Pensions Authority guidance in relation to the likely approach to be taken in implementing the Directive. They also provide insight on steps that trustees can start taking now to prepare for the changes to come.