Pension Fund Funding and Investment Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Pension fund trustees, Pension scheme managers and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 16 Nov 2026 Course code SD-TI-025

Before you join: Participants should be comfortable reading financial statements, investment performance reports and basic finance terminology such as return, volatility, duration and inflation.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Pension fund trustees, finance leaders and investment teams must meet promised benefits while controlling contribution volatility, liquidity pressure and investment risk. Defined benefit schemes require disciplined funding decisions based on actuarial liabilities, sponsor covenant strength, recovery capacity and investment return assumptions. Defined contribution arrangements present different duties: selecting suitable default strategies, controlling charges, monitoring member outcomes and maintaining clear governance. Poor alignment between liabilities, assets and decision rights can leave a scheme exposed to interest-rate movements, inflation shocks, liquidity events or an unaffordable funding deficit.

This course examines the funding and investment decisions that shape pension scheme resilience. Participants analyse actuarial valuation results, funding levels, discount rates, longevity assumptions and deficit repair plans. They build strategic asset allocation choices around return objectives, liability sensitivity, risk budgets and liquidity requirements. The programme also covers liability-driven investment, diversification, manager selection, performance measurement, responsible investment, stewardship and pension governance. Participants learn to question assumptions, interpret adviser reports, compare investment proposals and present decisions clearly to trustees, sponsors and investment committees.

Teaching combines concise technical briefings with pension fund cases, funding-model analysis, asset allocation discussions, investment committee simulations and structured application planning. Cases reflect issues faced by corporate pension schemes, public retirement funds, financial institutions and large employer-sponsored arrangements. Participants leave with a reusable pension funding and investment decision pack containing a funding diagnostic, asset-liability review, strategic allocation framework, manager due-diligence checklist, governance calendar and action plan. The course is suited to professionals who contribute to pension funding, investment oversight, finance, treasury, risk or trustee decision-making.

What you will be able to do

  • Interpret actuarial valuation reports, funding ratios and key liability assumptions
  • Construct a pension funding policy using deficit, covenant and recovery-plan analysis
  • Assess strategic asset allocations against liabilities, risk budgets and liquidity needs
  • Apply liability-driven investment principles to interest-rate and inflation exposures
  • Evaluate external investment managers using mandate, performance, risk and fee evidence
  • Design investment governance structures, decision rights and reporting requirements
  • Review responsible investment and stewardship policies for pension portfolio oversight
  • Prepare an investment committee paper supporting a documented funding decision

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Read actuarial valuation reports with greater confidence and informed challenge
  • Contribute credible funding recommendations to trustees, sponsors and finance leaders
  • Compare investment strategies beyond headline return and manager rankings
  • Recognise interest-rate, inflation, liquidity and concentration risks in pension portfolios
  • Build evidence for progression into pension governance or investment oversight roles

For your organisation

  • Improved scrutiny of funding assumptions, recovery plans and contribution commitments
  • Better alignment between pension liabilities, asset allocation and liquidity reserves
  • More disciplined selection and review of external investment managers
  • Clearer trustee, sponsor and adviser decision rights with documented accountability
  • Earlier identification of pension risks affecting cash flow and balance sheets

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can distinguish pension scheme structures, obligations and decision responsibilities.

  • Defined benefit and defined contribution promises compared through benefit design
  • Trustee, sponsor, administrator and investment adviser responsibilities mapped
  • Scheme rules, statements of investment principles and governance documents reviewed
  • Member outcomes, benefit security and affordability framed as decision objectives
  • Pension risk channels traced to employer cash flow and balance sheets
  • Decision rights established through delegations, committees and reserved matters

Participants can interpret actuarial liabilities and identify material valuation assumptions.

  • Actuarial valuation purpose, data requirements and valuation cycle explained
  • Discount rates derived from bond yields, expected returns and regulations
  • Longevity, salary growth and inflation assumptions tested for sensitivity
  • Present value calculations linked to projected benefit cash flows
  • Funding ratio and technical provisions interpreted from valuation reports
  • IAS 19 pension disclosures distinguished from scheme funding measures

Participants can formulate funding policies that reflect liabilities and employer capacity.

  • Funding objectives translated into target ratios, horizons and contribution principles
  • Sponsor covenant assessed through profitability, cash generation and debt capacity
  • Deficit repair schedules compared using affordability and risk evidence
  • Contribution triggers linked to funding deterioration and covenant weakening
  • Scenario analysis tests rates, inflation, longevity and asset-return shocks
  • Recovery plans documented with assumptions, contingencies and review points

Participants can assess investment risk relative to pension liabilities and funding objectives.

  • Asset-liability management connects portfolio outcomes with benefit payment obligations
  • Duration measures interest-rate sensitivity of bonds and pension liabilities
  • Inflation sensitivity assessed against index-linked benefits and assets
  • Funded-status volatility decomposed into asset, liability and contribution effects
  • Risk budgets allocated across return-seeking, matching and liquidity portfolios
  • Stress tests quantify collateral calls, drawdowns and funding deterioration

Participants can develop strategic allocation choices using return, risk and liquidity evidence.

  • Capital market assumptions define expected returns, volatility and correlations
  • Mean-variance optimisation limitations considered alongside funding-risk objectives
  • Strategic asset allocation sets long-term exposures and permitted ranges
  • Diversification assessed across equities, bonds, credit, property and alternatives
  • Liquidity buckets match expected benefit payments and collateral requirements
  • Rebalancing rules specify tolerances, authority levels and implementation timing

Participants can evaluate liability hedging and staged de-risking strategies.

  • Liability-driven investment aligns interest-rate and inflation hedges with liabilities
  • Gilts, swaps and inflation-linked bonds compared for liability matching
  • Hedge ratios calculated against duration, inflation exposure and collateral capacity
  • Collateral management addresses margin calls, liquidity buffers and governance
  • Dynamic de-risking triggers connect improved funding levels with allocation changes
  • Buy-in, buyout and longevity swap options assessed as risk-transfer routes

Participants can select managers and set mandates aligned with scheme objectives.

  • Manager search criteria cover philosophy, process, people and operational controls
  • Request for proposal scoring compares capability, fees and client service
  • Investment mandates define benchmarks, risk limits and reporting requirements
  • Fee structures examined across ad valorem, performance and transaction charges
  • Operational due diligence reviews custody, valuation, cybersecurity and business continuity
  • Termination provisions address underperformance, style drift and key-person departures

Participants can interpret investment results and produce decision-useful monitoring reports.

  • Time-weighted and money-weighted returns selected for appropriate performance questions
  • Benchmark design distinguishes market exposure from manager value added
  • Brinson attribution separates allocation, selection and interaction effects
  • Risk-adjusted measures include Sharpe ratio, tracking error and information ratio
  • Funding-level reporting integrates assets, liabilities, contributions and hedge effectiveness
  • Dashboard thresholds escalate breaches, underperformance and liquidity concerns

Participants can integrate stewardship, sustainability and compliance into investment oversight.

  • Responsible investment policy links material ESG factors with financial objectives
  • Stewardship codes guide voting, engagement and escalation with investee companies
  • Climate scenario analysis examines transition, physical and valuation risks
  • Manager reporting tests voting records, engagement outcomes and policy alignment
  • Conflicts of interest registers support trustee and adviser accountability
  • Local pension regulation mapped before adopting funding or investment decisions

Participants can structure pension investment decisions, records and implementation priorities.

  • Investment governance framework assigns authority, expertise and reporting lines
  • Committee agendas prioritise funding changes, risk limits and pending decisions
  • Decision papers present options, evidence, recommendations and implementation consequences
  • Minutes record challenge, conflicts, resolutions and accountable owners
  • Annual governance calendar schedules valuations, reviews, audits and policy updates
  • Application plan identifies immediate scheme actions, owners and review dates

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Pension funding policy template
  2. Actuarial valuation review checklist
  3. Asset-liability risk assessment model
  4. Strategic asset allocation decision framework
  5. Investment manager due-diligence checklist
  6. Trustee governance calendar and action plan

Who should attend

  • Pension fund trustees — need stronger challenge of actuarial and investment advice
  • Pension scheme managers — coordinate funding, governance and adviser inputs
  • Treasury managers — assess sponsor cash commitments and balance-sheet exposure
  • Finance directors — oversee pension deficits, contributions and accounting implications
  • Investment committee members — make defensible allocation and manager decisions
  • Risk and benefits managers — monitor pension risk within employer governance

Skills and tools covered

Pension funding analysisAsset-liability managementStrategic asset allocationInvestment manager oversightTrustee governancePerformance measurement

Tools and standards

IAS 19 Employee Benefits, Liability-Driven Investment, Brinson attribution, Sharpe ratio

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to establish funding, actuarial and investment concepts, followed by structured analysis of valuation extracts, asset allocation evidence and committee papers. Small-group case work examines deficit repair, liability hedging, manager selection and governance failures. Participants use simplified funding and asset-liability scenarios to test decisions under changing rates, inflation and market returns. Facilitated investment committee simulations develop challenge and communication skills. Individual application planning translates the course methods into priorities for each participant’s scheme or employer.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should be comfortable reading financial statements, investment performance reports and basic finance terminology such as return, volatility, duration and inflation. Experience in pensions, treasury, finance, investments, employee benefits, risk or trustee work is helpful. The course assumes no actuarial qualification and does not require advanced mathematics, programming, prior trustee certification or experience managing investment portfolios. Participants will benefit most if they can bring anonymised examples of their scheme’s funding position, governance structure or investment reporting.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

You should understand basic financial reporting and investment terms such as return, volatility, bonds and inflation. No actuarial qualification, advanced modelling skill or prior trustee experience is required.

Bring a calculator or laptop if you wish, although course materials provide the required working documents. An anonymised valuation summary, investment report or governance chart can help you apply the methods to your own situation.

It is designed for trustees, pension managers, finance and treasury professionals, investment committee members, benefits leaders and risk staff. It is particularly useful for people who must review adviser recommendations or support pension decisions.

General investment courses focus mainly on markets, securities and portfolio returns. This course starts with pension liabilities, funding obligations, sponsor affordability, benefit payments and trustee governance.

You can use the templates to review a valuation report, test funding assumptions, assess asset-liability risks and improve committee reporting. The action plan helps identify decisions, evidence and owners for the next governance cycle.

The programme provides approximately 32.5 contact hours, normally from 08:30 to 16:30 each day. Time is divided among ten taught modules, technical briefings, cases, group analysis, simulations and application planning.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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