Pensions Board chief criticised for stance on black hole in most funds

PENSIONS BOARD chief executive Brendan Kennedy has come under attack from a member of the board over his assertion that blame for the black hole in most pension funds is attributable to fund trustees and sponsoring employers.

Fergus Whelan, an industrial officer with the Irish Congress of Trade Unions who serves on the Pensions Board, said it “was not good enough for the regulator to avoid any responsibility for the mess that is Irish pensions by blaming the trustees or for that matter employers”. Mr Kennedy was reported this week as stating that “what determines whether a pension scheme can meet its obligations is not regulation but the prudent management of that scheme by the trustees and the support of the sponsoring employer on an ongoing basis”.

In a letter published in The Irish Timestoday, Mr Whelan argues that most pension fund trustees have behaved prudently. "Where was the regulator when, for more than a decade before the crisis, Irish pensions were overly exposed to international equity markets?" Mr Whelan asked. "Where was the regulator when Revenue rules forced well run scheme to jettison their surpluses so that when the down turn came the schemes quickly descended into deficit?"

Mr Whelan said the Pensions Board had increased the cost of operating schemes by introducing new obligations on trustees. “Rather than blaming trustees and employers, Mr Kennedy should be working with them to help salvage something from the mess which after all happened on the regulator’s watch,” Mr Whelan says.