IAPF Spring 2018 Irish Pensions Magazine

IRISH PENSIONS MAGAZINE | SPRING 2018 | 25 EXPERT OPINION the Myners Report (2001) and the subsequent UK Pension Act (2004). The Irish Pensions Authority is now also placing a strong emphasis on the capabilities and understanding of trustee boards and one can expect this to form a core part of policy and regulatory development going forward. Choosing Investments The research asked trustees to choose between: • A passive, low cost equity index tracker, • A balanced fund with a 50% equity index tracker/50% bond allocation • An actively managed equity portfolio and in a significant minority of cases (14%) meets monthly. Financial Literacy and Risk It is not surprising given the profile of the trustees surveyed that the research also indicates good financial literacy. As you will see in the chart below, based on responses to a number of key questions on asset classes, investment choice and risk, Trustees exhibited a high level of financial awareness, understood diversification and on average ranked the risk of different asset classes correctly. This is in contrast to earlier UK studies 2 ) which found that trustees lacked a minimal understanding of investment strategy and probably reflects an increased focus on qualifications and training for trustees following