Clara superfund reaches important milestone

The possibility of using superfunds as an endgame solution for defined benefit (DB) pension schemes has come much closer to being a reality. The Pensions Regulator has added Clara-Pensions to its list of assessed superfunds.

The Regulator says trustees should only consider using a superfund once it has completed its assessment and found the fund to be satisfactory. Clara, which launched in 2017, is the first such fund to make it onto the list. This means that it currently meets the Regulator’s expectations, including that it is run by fit and proper persons and meets certain governance and financial sustainability standards.

Employers and trustees wanting to transfer their scheme to a superfund could now apply to the Regulator for clearance for a transfer to Clara. Before providing clearance for any transfer, the Regulator would conduct a further detailed assessment focussing on Clara’s financial sustainability, capital adequacy, any changes to systems or processes or material changes to the fund since the last assessment.

The Regulator advises trustees considering a transaction to conduct their own due diligence and also to monitor the list of assessed superfunds as schemes can be removed as well as added.

For now the Regulator intends to regulate Clara and other superfunds in line with its own detailed guidance. This is while we await a permanent legal framework for the authorisation and supervision of superfunds. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) had previously indicated that it would share its vision for a regulatory regime in autumn/winter 2021 but that has not yet materialised.