V-FM: The Pensions Podcast

In this episode of V-FM Pensions, hosts Nico and Darren chat to Mohammed Ali Yasin from Lunate Capital and Ghaf Benefits about the UAE's end of service benefits system and how it compares to the UK pensions landscape.

We chatted through how the UAE system has evolved from paying expats (a significant majority of the UAE's population) a lump sum based on years of service with balances sitting unfunded on employer balance sheets, to ...

In this episode of V-FM Pensions hosts Darren and Nico chat to Hymans Robertson's Head of DC Kathryn Fleming. Kathryn is a PPI Trustee and co-chair of the Pension Equity Group's Data and Research Workstream.

We chat about the work of the Pensions Commission, including the recent PEG report arguing that a financial safety net needs to be introduced to support any future reforms. We talk adequacy, fairness and affordability, and disc...

In this episode of V-FM Pensions, hosts Darren and Nico are joined by SEI's Head of DC, EMEA and Asia, Steve Charlton.

Steve chats about SEI’s investment-led approach to running a master trust, and how the business has evolved from its roots as a technology firm into asset management and pensions. We cover some of the big issues currently shaping the DC landscape, including the role of AI and technology, Mansion House and the...

In this episode of V-FM Pensions, hosts Darren and Nico are joined by Paul Maynard, former Pensions Minister and MP for Blackpool North and Cleveleys.

In a wide ranging chat about pensions, politics and what really happens inside government, we cover pension dashboards, Mansion House, productive finance, consolidation, tax relief, the Pensions Commission and why policy often looks very different from the ministerial hot seat. Paul ...

In this episode of V-FM Pensions, hosts Nico and Darren chat to Sam Seaton, CEO of CAPA Data.

Through CAPA Data, Sam provides the data platform behind the Corporate Adviser Master Trust and GPP Defaults Report, which takes a deep dive into the performance, asset allocation and structure of DC workplace pension defaults.

We chat about pensions adequacy, auto-escalation, member engagement, legacy data challenges, and the risks of rel...

In this episode of V-FM Pensions, hosts Darren and Nico chat to Scottish Widows' Director of Workplace Jerry Butcher.

In a very wide-ranging episode we chat about engagement, defaults, the use of AI, the FCA's Consumer Duty, the Scottish Widow's Retirement Report and the latest analysis from the Pensions Commission amongst a whole host of other things! We find out how Jerry moved from parachuting to pensions and, of course, find ou...

In this episode of V-FM Pensions hosts Darren and Nico chat with AF Advisory's Jasper Haak.

We discuss the "Wet toekomst pensioenen", the Dutch "Future of Pensions Act", which came into force in 2023 and refocuses the second pillar away from defined benefit / ambition towards collective and individual DC. We chat through what this all means for the Dutch pension system from a member and investment perspective, the transition of ass...

In this episode of the podcast, Darren and Nico catch up on some of the recent pensions news. In a surprisingly fiery episode we throw out some difficult questions for regulators and the industry, alongside a fair bit of ranting...

We cover:

* The Pension Schemes Bill becoming law

* The Pensions Regulator admitting that scale is not a guarantee of success

* Bank of England warnings about the AI investment bubble

* The upcoming Pens...

In this episode of V-FM, hosts Darren and Nico are 'out and about' at the PMI's DC and Master Trust Symposium where we recorded an 'as live' session on Pensions and Housing.

We are joined by Anna Brain who led a significant piece on research for NEST Insight and Schroders' Rich Fox who was involved in the Lifetime Savings Initiative, as we examine the evidence and debate whether pensions could and/or should be used to support home ...

In this episode of V-FM pensions, hosts Darren and Nico chat to Standard Life's Esther Hawley about all things decumulation. We hear about Standard Life's approach to helping people with the knotty challenge of how to turn pensions into income including segmenting members, the anchoring decisions around essential versus discretionary income, and offering a guided “starter” solution rather than simply presenting the cust...

In this episode of V-FM Pensions, hosts Darren and Nico put themselves at the mercy of listener questions in this Q+A special (part one...) that lays bare some of the current and emerging fault lines in UK pensions...

Listeners’ questions push Darren and Nico to discuss whether VFM is about member outcomes, system outcomes, or society at large? Pensions exist to pay money in retirement, and anything else is a bonus only if it...

In this episode of V-FM Pensions hosts Darren and Nico chat to Simon Chrystal, CEO of WPS Advisory. Simon's been on the pod before and we wanted to get him back on to talk about the evolution of his advisory business and some of the interesting stuff he is doing with the rollout of his LifeStage app.

Simon reframes value for money as a practical, human outcome improving people’s lives rather than a technical or regulatory met...

This week on V-FM, hosts Darren and Nico are joined by Philip Smith and Ruari Grant from TPT, a £11.5bn, 500,000-member hybrid powerhouse quietly shaping some of the biggest shifts in UK pensions.

From mandation risks and the unanswered questions behind the £25bn scale test, to the real tensions inside the Value for Money framework, this conversation goes straight to the hea...

In this episode of V-FM, hosts Darren and Nico chat to LCP’s Sam Cobley discussing the role of Collective Defined Contribution (CDC) in the UK pensions system. Sitting between DC and DB, CDC pools members with the aim of delivering a more stable retirement income, but requires savers to give up some of the flexibility offered by DC. The discussion centres on whether the potential income uplift is large enough to justify that ...

In this episode of V-FM Pensions hosts Darren and Nico chat to Now: Pensions' Samantha Gould. Samantha heads up Now's PR and campaigns and has been particularly vocal in campaigning about pensions inequality.

We explore the structural drivers of the gender pensions gap and the wider challenge of under-pensioned groups. Samantha discusses her campaigning work since the first gender pensions gap report in 2019 (with the Pensions Poli...

In this episode of V-FM Pensions, hosts Darren and Nico take a meander through some recent pension news stories.

The pair discuss:

• Reform’s proposal to consolidate the LGPS into a single UK-focused sovereign wealth fund and shift new entrants from DB to DC, questioning both the investment logic and the politics;
• the government’s VFM framework, highlighting a core tension between a system measuring capital growth wi...

In this episode of V-FM Pensions, hosts Nico and Darren welcome their first-ever podcast guest back to the show: David Butcher.

They catch up with David to hear how his mindfulness coaching through Positively Aware is going and to get his thoughts on V-FM, trusteeship, and the insight he has gained from recent trustee experiences.

David also shares a brilliant story about gatecrashing a festival… a moment that somehow didn&r...