2024 has certainly started with a bang here at CIS! With a number of propositional enhancements now launched or underway, we continue to ensure that our platform offering meets the evolving needs of our trustee clients and their advisors.
Here’s a roundup of all our latest news and insights.
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New for 2024 – Environmental, Social and Governance Report
We’re delighted to announce the launch of our new Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) report, which we will be rolling out to our clients this year.
Targeted at pension scheme members, the report aims to provide them with meaningful ESG data about the funds they invest in, presenting complex metrics in a way that’s easy to understand. It can also be used by schemes who are not in scope for TCFD reporting to monitor the impact of their investments and meet ESG reporting requirements in their scheme implementation statements.
We’d be happy to talk you through the new report and how it can support member engagement – contact us to find out more.
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AAF Report
We have now published our 2023 assurance report on internal controls and are happy to confirm that it was with no exceptions requiring auditor comment or review.
This year’s report is a testament to the continuing strength of our operating effectiveness and the expertise of our dedicated operations oversight and service teams.
You can access a copy of this year’s report here.
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Industry events
We recently took part in Capita’s first roundtable of the year on the challenges and opportunities of DC investing. The event brought together experts from across the industry to consider how best to address our shared priority: delivering the best outcomes for savers.
A copy of the briefing note, which summarises the discussions, can be accessed here.
We also attended this year’s PLSA Investment Conference in February, which was a great event as always. Much of the discussion this year centered around:
- Private market investments – how we turn aspiration into a reality
- Prioritising value over cost for DC savers
- Supporting a ‘lost generation’ of Britons without adequate DC savings or a DB back up
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Awards
We’re thrilled to be finalists in two categories at the 2024 UK Pensions Awards: DC Pension Provider of the Year and Pensions Communication Initiative of the Year.
The awards are among the industry’s most prestigious accolades, shining a light on excellence and recognizing the advisers, providers and investment managers who offer the highest levels of innovation, performance and service to occupational pension schemes and their members.
We look forward to attending the awards ceremony on Thursday 6 June – Best of luck to all the finalists!
Phoenix CIS were also finalists at this year’s Pension Age Awards in February, and it was an honour to be shortlisted in two categories for the work we’ve done providing innovative platform solutions and launching our market-leading ESG report.
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DCIF
This year, as part of our associate membership of the Defined Contribution Investment Forum (DCIF), we have been part of the steering group for a key piece of research into the gap between supply and demand for private markets in DC.
The initial outcomes of the research were shared at the DCIF’s annual event on 19 March, with several key themes emerging:
- Improving risk-adjusted returns for members and diversification are the key drivers of private market investment for DC schemes, ahead of impact and ESG objectives.
- In a cost-centric market, higher fees remain the most significant barrier to investment.
- Platforms are increasingly able to accommodate fund structures with monthly or quarterly liquidity and have a key role to play in delivering innovative solutions to facilitate private market access.
A copy of the report is now available to access on the DCIF website.
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Welcome to the team Jason!
We’d like to extend a very warm welcome to Jason Cameron, who has joined the CIS team on a 6-month graduate rotation.
Jason has already completed three rotations at Phoenix within Workplace Proposition, Retail Direct and Workplace Distribution, and will be supporting CIS with a number of key initiatives for the investment only platform.
We are sure that Jason will bring a fresh perspective and new insights into the team, and we very much look forward to working with him over the coming months.
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International Women’s Day
On Friday 8th March the CIS team joined colleagues from across Phoenix Group in celebrating International Women’s Day to show our support for the 2024 theme: Inspire Inclusion.
We’re proud to be part of an organisation that recognises the importance of inclusion in achieving gender equality and values the unique perspectives and contributions of colleagues from all walks of life.
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New fund launches
We continue to work with our clients to launch the new funds and solutions that they need, when they need them, to enable them to meet their changing investment objectives. We have a number of new funds in the pipeline for Q2.
You can download our latest fund list here.
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Looking ahead
As we step into Spring, an important area of focus will be on enhancing our proposition for DB clients to deliver the solutions they need - including access to LDI investments. This will result in further improvements to platform capability and a number of additions to our fund range.
We are also developing a secure client reporting hub, which will give clients and their advisors on-demand access to all new and historic scheme reporting. We expect to launch the portal later this year and will share further updates as the project progresses.
We have plans to grow the CIS team in 2024 and will be adding new relationship management and reporting roles later this year. Stay posted for updates!
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