Thanks to PASA for inviting me. Thanks to Jane for seamlessly Chairing the session, and to Anna Taylor and Lorraine Harper for sharing their insights with me. Thinking about the two areas of focus I mentioned: Technical Debt - the debt we have built up over decades of underinvesting in administration technology. Talent Debt - the experienced first wave of administrators have retired, professional trustees and consultants are hoovering talent and firms have underinvested in training and development programs (primarily through COVID worries). We need to invest in talent and create pathways for administration to be a vibrant long term career again. Debt has to be paid, and the only way to balance this equation is to stop thinking of this as a sunset industry and invest with longer term aspirations. There will always be benefit provision, the assets and liabilities do not disappear. That will be serviced in different ways but skills are transferable and new markets present. We will always have retirement savers, from my perspective, and we can flex with their needs. So, in short in my 42 years every sunset has been followed by a sunrise (I have not been to Norway in fairness). If that doesn’t happen, pensions are the least of our worries!! (See ESG policies)
Our first panel of the day - Trustees & Administrators: Time to Tango chaired by Jane Beverley, joined by Chris Roberts, Anna Taylor & Lorraine Harper #PASA2024
Partner and Head of Administration at Isio
7 个月Excellent session Chris. 'Technical Debt' and 'Talent Debt' are now seared into my vocabulary.