Pension Governance and Ethics Training Course

Participants can apply fiduciary principles when assessing pension decisions and competing interests.

• Fiduciary duty of loyalty, prudence, care, skill and diligence
• Best-interest tests for members, beneficiaries and pension plan participants
• Purpose, powers and constraints established through governing documents
• Documenting reasonable process before investment, funding and benefit decisions
• Separating trustee judgment from sponsor influence and commercial pressure
• Legal advice, actuarial advice and investment advice within fiduciary decisions

Participants can design governance structures with accountable roles, committees and decision rights.

• Board composition criteria covering independence, competence, diversity and succession
• Committee charters for investment, audit, risk, benefits and administration
• RACI matrices defining approval, recommendation, execution and assurance responsibilities
• Delegated authority schedules with financial thresholds and escalation triggers
• Quorum, voting, recusals and minutes requirements for trustee meetings
• Annual board calendar aligned with valuations, audits and regulatory returns

Participants can assemble a coherent set of policies supporting pension governance decisions.

• Governing rules, trust deeds and plan documents as authority sources
• Policy hierarchy distinguishing board policies, procedures and working instructions
• Investment policy statement components, constraints and approval responsibilities
• Funding, contribution, benefit payment and reserve policies mapped
• Document control using owners, review cycles, versions and approvals
• Policy gap analysis against stated fiduciary duties and risks

Participants can specify conduct expectations and ethical safeguards for pension decision-makers.

• Code of conduct clauses addressing integrity, confidentiality and respectful challenge
• Ethical decision model using facts, stakeholders, duties, options and consequences
• Tone from the top demonstrated through board behaviour and responses
• Speaking-up channels, non-retaliation commitments and confidential case handling
• Gifts, hospitality and political exposure assessed through risk thresholds
• Training attestations and annual conduct declarations for fiduciaries

Participants can identify, assess, disclose and manage actual and perceived conflicts.

• Conflict categories: financial, personal, professional, institutional and informational interests
• Conflict register fields covering interests, materiality, controls and review dates
• Related-party transactions tested for arm's-length terms and approvals
• Recusal procedures recorded before deliberation, voting and access to papers
• Procurement conflicts involving consultants, managers, custodians and administrators
• Annual declarations reconciled with board agendas, vendors and investment holdings

Participants can create a risk and control structure for pension governance exposures.

• COSO Internal Control components applied to pension fund operations
• Risk appetite statements covering funding, investment, liquidity and conduct
• Risk register design using causes, events, impacts, controls and owners
• Key risk indicators for contribution arrears, errors and service disruption
• Three lines model clarifying management, oversight and independent assurance
• Control testing evidence including samples, exceptions, remediation and retesting

Participants can oversee investment decisions through defined objectives, controls and documentation.

• Investment beliefs translated into objectives, risk limits and portfolio constraints
• Strategic asset allocation decisions linked to liabilities and member profiles
• Investment committee challenge questions for assumptions, scenarios and downside risks
• Mandate guidelines covering benchmarks, concentration, derivatives and liquidity
• Rebalancing rules, exception approvals and documentation of tactical decisions
• Performance attribution separating market, allocation, selection and implementation effects

Participants can apply documented criteria to appoint and oversee external investment managers.

• Request-for-proposal criteria covering capability, fees, governance and investment process
• Due diligence on ownership, key persons, controls and regulatory history
• Manager scorecards combining performance, risk, service and mandate compliance
• Fee reviews covering management fees, transaction costs and incentives
• Watchlist triggers for underperformance, personnel changes and control breaches
• Termination decisions supported by evidence, transition planning and member interests

Participants can establish responsible investment and stewardship governance consistent with fiduciary duties.

• Responsible investment policy linked to financial materiality and fiduciary purpose
• ESG factor assessment within manager research and investment monitoring
• Stewardship expectations for voting, engagement, escalation and reporting
• Climate-related financial risks assessed through scenarios and portfolio exposures
• Greenwashing indicators tested in manager claims, labels and disclosures
• Reporting stewardship outcomes without overstating influence or investment results

Participants can govern funding and actuarial decisions using clear assumptions and escalation criteria.

• Actuarial valuation governance: scope, assumptions, data and independent challenge
• Funding policy thresholds for deficits, recovery plans and sponsor contributions
• Sensitivity analysis for discount rates, longevity, inflation and salary growth
• Assumption governance distinguishing evidence, judgment, approval and documentation
• Covenant assessment for sponsor capacity, affordability and contribution reliability
• Actuarial report questions trustees should ask before approving funding actions

Participants can oversee administration controls affecting member entitlements and service quality.

• Member data governance covering accuracy, completeness, retention and access rights
• Contribution reconciliation between payroll, bank receipts and member records
• Benefit calculation controls using maker-checker review and exception reporting
• Service-level agreements for enrolment, claims, transfers and complaints
• Administration error logs analysed by root cause, impact and remediation
• Business continuity arrangements for administrator outages and critical processing failures

Participants can evaluate custody and operational resilience controls protecting pension assets.

• Custodian due diligence covering asset segregation, reconciliation and legal protections
• Daily reconciliation controls for cash, holdings, transactions and corporate actions
• Asset ownership evidence reviewed through custody statements and confirmations
• Operational resilience scenarios covering cyber incidents, outages and provider failure
• Business continuity tests assessed against recovery time and data restoration objectives
• Incident reporting thresholds for asset loss, fraud and settlement failure

Participants can design proportionate controls for fraud, bribery and pension misconduct risks.

• ISO 37001 anti-bribery controls adapted for pension procurement and investment
• Fraud risk assessment covering payments, benefits, vendors and member identity
• Red flags for collusion, inflated invoices and unauthorised benefit changes
• Due diligence on intermediaries, placement agents and politically exposed persons
• Investigation protocols preserving evidence, confidentiality, fairness and escalation pathways
• Disciplinary and remediation actions linked to findings, controls and disclosures

Participants can govern outsourced pension services through due diligence, contracts and monitoring.

• Outsourcing risk assessment covering criticality, concentration, data and exit barriers
• Vendor due diligence reviewing financial strength, controls and regulatory standing
• Contract clauses for service levels, audit rights, confidentiality and termination
• Service-provider dashboards measuring timeliness, accuracy, incidents and complaint resolution
• Periodic review meetings documented with actions, owners and due dates
• Exit plans covering data transfer, continuity, costs and member communications

Participants can plan compliance monitoring and prepare governance evidence for regulators.

• Compliance obligations mapped from legislation, rules, policies and contracts
• Annual compliance plan prioritised by risk, frequency and control maturity
• Regulatory return governance covering ownership, validation, approval and submission
• Breach registers documenting classification, notification, remediation and closure
• Compliance monitoring tests built from obligations, controls and evidence sources
• Regulator engagement protocols for inspections, information requests and findings

Participants can prepare decision-ready reports that support trustee challenge and accountability.

• Board paper structure: purpose, recommendation, evidence, risks and required decision
• Governance dashboard indicators for investments, funding, operations and conduct
• Exception reporting focused on thresholds, root causes and corrective actions
• Minutes that record challenge, conflicts, dissent and approved resolutions
• Decision logs linking resolutions to owners, deadlines and follow-up evidence
• Information packs calibrated for strategic oversight rather than management detail

Participants can govern member communications and complaint processes with fairness and transparency.

• Member communication standards for clarity, accuracy, timing and accessible language
• Disclosure controls for fees, investment choices, risks and benefit projections
• Complaint handling workflow covering acknowledgement, investigation, response and escalation
• Vulnerable member considerations in communications, claims and identity verification
• Pension scam warnings integrated into transfers, withdrawals and member education
• Complaint trend analysis informing process changes, controls and board reporting

Participants can assess governance effectiveness and prioritise improvement actions using evidence.

• Board effectiveness reviews using surveys, interviews, observations and document analysis
• Governance maturity assessment across structures, processes, culture and assurance
• Internal audit scopes for trustee governance, investments and administration controls
• Assurance maps aligning key risks, controls, assurance providers and gaps
• Remediation plans prioritised by member impact, urgency, owner and resources
• Follow-up reporting that tests action completion and sustained control performance

Participants can build, review and present a complete pension governance improvement plan for a pension arrangement.

• Governance diagnostic consolidating fiduciary, structure, conduct, risk and oversight findings
• Materiality assessment ranking gaps by member impact, likelihood and control weakness
• Target operating model defining board, committee, management and provider accountabilities
• Improvement roadmap sequencing policy, control, reporting and capability actions
• Board dashboard and assurance map supporting ongoing governance monitoring
• Presentation of recommendations, evidence, implementation risks and success measures