Cost Transparency Initiative welcomes new Board members

The Cost Transparency Initiative has today (Monday) announced members of its new Board. 

The new members of the Board are: Jenny Condron (Association of Consulting Actuaries), Joe Dabrowski (Pensions & Lifetime Savings Association), Jason Fletcher (LGPS Central Limited), Adam Henley (JP Morgan AM), Jeff Houston (Secretary to the LGPS Advisory Board), Jane Ivinson (Insight Investment), Jonathan Lipkin (Investment Association) Gurpreet Manku (British Private Equity & Venture Capital Association), Angela Roberts (Financial Services Consumer Panel) and Robert Waugh (RBS Pension Fund).

In addition, representatives from the Department for Work and Pensions, Financial Conduct Authority, The Pensions Regulator and the Trade Union Congress will also be Board observers, and the former Chair of the Institutional Disclosure Working Group (IDWG), Dr Chris Sier, will act as a Board adviser. 

Launched in November 2018, the Cost Transparency Initiative will work on implementing, promoting and encouraging the use of new cost transparency templates – as proposed by IDWG – across the pensions and investment industries. This should allow investors to compare charges between providers, give them a clear expectation of the disclosure they can expect, and ultimately deliver better value for money for members and employers.

Following the group’s launch, up to 20 participants – both providers and investors – have now been selected to take part in a pilot phase of the templates. The pilot, which is due to conclude in March 2019, will help the group fine tune the templates before opening them up for wider use throughout the industry.

Mel Duffield, Chair of the Cost Transparency Initiative, said: “This is another important step and I’m delighted to welcome each of the new members to the Cost Transparency Initiative. 

“The Board has diverse representation from stakeholders across the industry that will be involved with the templates to ensure all perspectives are represented. Each of the new members brings an important level of experience to the group which will help to ensure that this project is a success going forwards into 2019 and beyond. I would like to thank each of them for committing to the programme of work and look forward to working closely with each and every one of them.”

“With the appointment of the Board and the new templates now being actively tested across the industry, I am confident we are making good progress towards formally launching the new templates in the Spring which, once adopted, will make it easier for trustees to scrutinise and challenge costs and deliver value for money.

“I’d like to once again thank members of the IDWG for their hard work in getting us to this point. We will continue to draw on their experience as we take forward this initiative.”

The group is supported by the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA), Investment Association and Local Government Pension Scheme Advisory Board following on from the Institutional Disclosure Working Group’s (IDWG) report to the Financial Conduct Authority published last year.

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