Publication
Global rules on foreign direct investment (FDI)
Cross-border acquisitions and investments increasingly trigger foreign direct investment (FDI) screening requirements.
United Kingdom | Publication | January 2022
The Work and Pensions Committee (WPC) has published a parliamentary report making a number of recommendations to the government about how pension scheme members could be better protected and supported to make good decisions. This follows an inquiry into how the 2015 DC pension reforms (dubbed “freedom and choice”) are working out.
The inquiry concluded that although the DC flexibilities introduced in 2015 have “on balance” been a success, many DC members are in need of greater support than is currently available.
The “stronger nudge” reforms, though welcome, do not go far enough in the WPC’s view. The WPC wants the government to set a goal that at least 60% of people should be receiving Pension Wise guidance or paid-for advice when accessing their DC pensions for the first time. Currently only 14% take Pension Wise guidance before accessing DC pots.
The WPC also wants to trial automatic Pension Wise appointments and introduce “midlife MOTs” – i.e. offer members guidance and advice some time before retirement age when it’s not too late to inform retirement planning. However, while Pensions Minister Guy Opperman is supportive of the midlife MOT idea, he has for now ruled out automatic Pension Wise appointments for 50-year-olds on costs grounds.
Other WPC recommendations include:
• Scrapping plans for a DC “statements season” on the basis that the benefits are outweighed by the difficulties and this is anyway just a stopgap until pension dashboards are introduced.
• Boosting the take up of pension advice by extending the Pensions Advice Allowance.
• Exploring the possibility of de-coupling tax free cash and the rest of a member’s pension. This is to stop members making hasty and poor decisions about 75% of their pot because overly focussed on the 25% tax free element.
These recommendations will not necessarily be adopted by the government, but their publication will put pressure on the DWP to consider further member protections and potentially to abandon apparently unpopular ideas such as the statements season. The report therefore gives us an indication of the possible direction of travel for future pensions policy.
Publication
Cross-border acquisitions and investments increasingly trigger foreign direct investment (FDI) screening requirements.
Publication
On February 2, 2024, the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union confirmed that the Committee of Permanent Representatives had signed the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Regulation, referred to as the AI Act. Approval by the EU Parliament followed on 13 March 2024, and the AI Act is likely to appear in the EU’s Official Journal around May 2024. The AI Act aims to establish a stringent legal framework governing the development, marketing, and utilisation of artificial intelligence within the region, thereby marking a significant advancement in the regulation of this burgeoning domain.
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The private credit market and direct lending have grown and diversified immensely in the past decade, offering alternative sources and terms of debt compared to those historically provided by the syndicated leveraged loan and public issuance markets. Consequently, they are fast becoming pivotal components in the capital ecosystem, so much so that the Bank of England consider that the private credit market is currently responsible for approximately $1.8 trillion of debt issuance, which is four times its size in 2015. This growth has been particularly pronounced in Europe and the US but there has also been significant activity in Asia.
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