Pitmans Trustees Limited (PTL), a leading independent trustee and governance services provider, today welcomed the consultation by the FCA, recently published, proposing rules for independent governance committees (IGCs) for DC schemes.

Commenting Richard Butcher, Managing Director of PTL, said: “From April 2015 providers will have to put in place an ICG which will have responsibility for ensuring stake holder pensions and group personal pension plans are run in the best interests of members. This is a good move and the rules outlined are sensible, proportionate and pragmatic. If put into force as proposed they should significantly improve the outcome members achieve from their workplace personal pension plans. PTL act on the two early adopter IGCs (including Legal & General) and we look forward to implementing these proposals.”

Butcher added: “In our dialogue with FCA, amongst a number of ideas, we also proposed the idea of creating a standalone “outsourced” IGC function for smaller insurers. We are extremely pleased this idea has been adopted, now to be known as Governance Advisory Arrangements (or GAAs). Our GAA, with legal, actuarial, investment and insurer management expertise, is already up and running and now we can talk to insurers about it.”