Independent Governance Committee
The Independent Governance Committee (“IGC”) has been set up to work for you, the members of workplace pension schemes provided by Zurich. Our main task is to decide whether you get ‘value for money’ from Zurich. Our ambition is that Zurich schemes will deliver the outcomes members like you expect of them and support the lifestyle you want in retirement. To achieve this you need to know what these pension savings might deliver, and what actions you could take to improve your outcomes.
The Zurich Independent Governance Committee has four independent members, as measured against the guidance on independence set out by the Financial Conduct Authority, and one member from the company.
Statement from Anna Bradley, Chair of the Zurich IGC
"We will act solely in your interests and will operate independently of Zurich. To work out how to measure value for money we asked people like you what they thought was most important about pension schemes. You told us it was the ultimate outcome that really matters, but you gave us clear insights about how you thought we should assess progress to delivering a good outcome, in particular that:
- The Company is adhering to the appropriate rules and regulations;
- The service is good when compared with other sectors, such as water or energy companies, not just when compared with the service of other pension providers;
- Prices are competitive, and where prices are higher than expected there is a good reason for this; and
- The Company does its best to achieve good outcomes for you through its investment on your behalf and helps you to make the right decisions to achieve better outcomes.
The IGC challenges Zurich on the way they compare with the rest of the pensions market, including on the costs they charge you and the profits they make. We also assess, and where necessary, challenge them on the value for money of workplace personal pension schemes using this guidance.
I hope the work we do will help to give you confidence in Zurich as your pension provider and encourage you to engage more in the decisions you need to make about your pension.
Each year we produce a report on whether we think you are getting value for money from your Zurich pension. You can download our latest report by following the link below."
Further reading
Zurich UK's Independent Governance Committee
Anna Bradley, Chair
Anna is a long-standing consumer advocate. Anna worked at Which? for many years, and is a former CEO of The National Consumer Council. Anna also chairs a number of other regulatory and consumer oversight bodies in other sectors including in rail, water and payments.
Mark Thompson
Mark brings over thirty years of investment management experience to the IGC. Previous investment roles include the CIO of the HSBC Bank UK Pension Scheme, where he led on both the DB and DC investment strategies for over 8 years. Prior to that Mark held a number of senior roles at Prudential/M&G Investments and was a Trustee of the Prudential's UK Pension Scheme.
Laurie Edmans, CBE
Laurie has wide experience in leading pensions and life assurance businesses and was a founder board member of NEST, of the Pensions Regulator and of the Money Advice Service. He chairs the defined contribution pension plan for Reach Plc, formerly Trinity Mirror plc. He was appointed CBE in 2006 for services to pensions reform.
Robert Laslett, CBE
Robert brings extensive regulatory experience to the IGC, as a previous director at the Office of Fair Trading and the Department for Work and Pensions, where he was also Chief Economist for Pensions. Robert is also a member of the Civil Aviation Authority Consumer Panel.
Anita Fernqvist
Anita is presently Chief Data Officer for Zurich Insurance in the UK, with over 14 years of experience in the insurance industry. Anita brings extensive experience of leading and delivering large scale Operational Transformation programmes in addition to running and optimising operational disciplines such as Business Change, IT, Robotics and Continuous Improvement with a view to driving better customer value through operational excellence.