News
September 8, 2025
“we were still seeing some deaths involving Covid 19 in 2024” A look back at 2024 The headline message is that overall mortality rates observed in England & Wales during 2024 were the lowest on record. They were just slightly below the previous lows observed in 2019, the last year before Covid 19 had such…
September 2, 2025
“the proposals go much further than initially anticipated” Back in 2018 the Isle of Man Financial Services Authority (IOMFSA) published a discussion document inviting feedback on its intention to enhance the regulatory framework for private pensions and their providers. It received 9 responses and published the feedback document in the second half of 2018, with…
August 28, 2025
“This mind-set change is most definitely now happening” My article in issue 4 2023 of Bandwagon “Pension surpluses – what now?” ended with the following thought: “Ultimately a mind-set change may be warranted, as we move from an environment where schemes presented seemingly ever-growing liabilities, as yields fell, to one where they present opportunities to…
August 13, 2025
We are delighted to announce that Charlie Forshaw has been awarded BWCI’s 2025 student bursary this year. Our bursary scheme, which has been operating for over 15 years, provides financial support throughout the student’s undergraduate studies, as well as a minimum of eight weeks’ practical work experience each year outside of university term…
July 31, 2025
BWCI is pleased to announce another bumper year with 13 staff promotions. Within our Pensions Administration team Emma Guilbert, Linda Priede and Enya Rabey have completed their initial training period to become Administrators, and Rachel Bihet has been promoted to Senior Administrator. Helen Marriott, who heads up our client accounting team has been…
July 29, 2025
BWCI is delighted to announce the promotion of Anna Gray to Partner. Anna joined BWCI in April 2023 and currently sits on the boards of BWCI’s fiduciary companies. A pensions lawyer by background, Anna brings her legal skills to overseeing the team that administers some of BWCI’s more bespoke pension arrangements. These cover both corporate…
April 11, 2025
By Will Bean at BWCI william.bean@bwcigroup.com “2024 saw record low mortality rates” The Continuous Mortality Investigation (“CMI”) publish regular quarterly updates on the trends observed in mortality rates in England and Wales. Their analysis is based on the death data published by the Office of National Statistics (“ONS”) and the latest update provides some interesting observations…
April 4, 2025
By Mark Colton at BWCI mark.colton@bwcigroup.com “It is difficult to find a combination of acceptable investments that suits everyone” SPF Whether you favour winter slopes or summer beaches (or both), you’ll be reaching for the sunscreen. The SPF (Sun Protection Factor) is a handy number telling us how strong the stuff is. It is easy to…
April 3, 2025
By Chris Collier at BWCI chris.collier@bwcigroup.com “lifestyles and behaviours gradually change over time” The composition of the “basket of goods” used to quantify inflation provides an interesting, but perhaps not immediately obvious, insight into how lifestyles and behaviours gradually change over time. The December 2024 Jersey RPI figure is the first to be based on…
April 1, 2025
By Michelle Galpin at BWCI michelle.galpin@bwcigroup.com “likely to cause some concern for many trustee boards” The UK Chancellor’s speech on 29 January set out several strategies aimed at generating growth in the UK economy. One of the policy areas to be developed is to “introduce flexibilities for well-funded defined benefit schemes to release surplus funds…
March 26, 2025
Clair Le Poidevin, Managing Director of Orion Insurance. The BWCI Group is pleased to announce that it has acquired regulated insurance manager, Orion Insurance Management Limited. Orion acts as manager to two well-known local general insurance businesses; La Fraternelle Mutual and Foresters Healthcare. This acquisition diversifies our range of services by expanding BWCI’s insurance offering,…
March 12, 2025
Managing multiple pensions from different jobs can quickly become overwhelming. People now change jobs more frequently than in the past, when staying with one employer for an entire career was more common. As a result, you now may have several pension pots from previous employers. Even if they are with the same provider, they might…