Actuaries Lane Clark & Peacock has launched two specialist practices – LCP Trustee Consulting and LCP Corporate Consulting – to offer advice to UK pension fund trustees and corporate pension plan sponsors.
“The launch of LCP Trustee Consulting and LCP Corporate Consulting enables us to focus our specialist teams in an increasingly complex environment,” says Martin Slack, LCP’s Senior Partner. “The new practices will enable LCP’s delivery of service to evolve to address the issues facing our clients over the coming year and beyond.”
The firm points out that there have been significant changes in UK pensions law (with the Pensions Act 2004), new rules governing company accounting (with International Accounting requirements from 2005) and a major upturn in the level of corporate merger & acquisition activity.
“During the last two years, LCP has developed innovative solutions to help trustees understand and manage financial risks,” adds Aaron Punwani, Head of LCP Trustee Consulting. “The recent Pensions Act is a catalyst for further evolution of our trustee-focused services. The introduction of the Pension Protection Fund, a more powerful regulator, and more demanding requirements for trustee knowledge and understanding will make 2005 an interesting and busy time for trustees.”
The LCP Trustee Consulting practice will focus on providing advice on pensions issues that are of concern to trustees, such as implementing the soon to be introduced pension scheme funding regime, assessing the adequacy of contribution plans, advising on investment issues, and advising on the issues surrounding insolvency and the winding up of pension schemes.
The LCP Corporate Consulting practice will specialise in advising companies on how best to manage the impact of their pension schemes on company finances, how to represent pension schemes in company accounts, ensuring that UK and international benefit plans attract and retain employees effectively, and managing benefit issues in mergers & acquisitions.
“In recent months we have witnessed increasing demand from our corporate clients for a wide range of specialist services, including those beyond the realm of our traditional work,” says Alex Waite, Head of LCP Corporate Consulting. “Recent projects include advising on clients’ accounting disclosure regarding pensions, managing the cost of share option plans, advising on `pensions simplification’ and executive remuneration, and ensuring transparent global corporate governance of employee benefit plans.”