The FRC’s Board for Actuarial Standards (BAS) has today published a consultation paper setting out proposals for a technical actuarial standard on the actuarial information required to ensure good judgements can be made about the effects of changes to pension funds and insurance contracts (transformations). Actuarial information plays an important role in protecting the rights of participants in a pooled fund, such as pension scheme members and insurance policyholders, when the obligations of the sponsors or fund managers are changed, for instance by transferring obligations from one body to another or by amending the structure or operation of the fund.

The BAS’s objective is to ensure that actuarial information properly covers matters that affect scheme members and policyholders, including fairness, security and the level of benefits.

Following the consultation, the BAS will issue an exposure draft of a new standard.

Commenting on the consultation, Jim Sutcliffe, Chairman of the BAS, said:

“Pension scheme mergers and changes of ownership of employers and insurance companies often crystallise what people will actually receive, so that it is particularly important for the work actuaries do in this area to be of a high standard.”

The consultation period ends on 1 March 2010. Copies of the paper can be downloaded from the BAS’s website at: http://www.frc.org.uk/bas/publications/pub2198.html.

1. The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) is the UK’s independent regulator responsible for promoting confidence in corporate reporting and governance. Its functions are exercised principally by its operating bodies (the Accounting Standards Board, the Auditing Practices Board, the Board for Actuarial Standards, the Financial Reporting Review Panel, the Professional Oversight Board and the Accountancy and Actuarial Discipline Board) and by the FRC Board. The Committee on Corporate Governance assists the Board in its work on corporate governance.
2. The Board for Actuarial Standards has a primary objective of promoting competence and transparency of actuarial practice by establishing and improving actuarial technical standards and ensuring that they are coherent, consistent and comprehensive.
3. All media enquiries should be addressed to Louise Pryor, Director of the Board for Actuarial Standards, 020 7492 2328 or email at l.pryor@frc.org.uk.