Law Debenture : LawDeb appointed to Clara-Pensions' independent governing board

It was announced today that LawDeb representative Michael Chatterton, is one of three senior individuals appointed to the independent governing board of Clara-Pensions, the member-first consolidator for defined benefit pension schemes. Michael commented:

'With a recent TPR survey highlighting that smaller DB schemes are falling behind in terms of their governance standards and meeting the principles of TPR's funding code Clara-Pensions comes as a welcome solution. I am thrilled to be part of the experienced independent governing board working together with the Clara-Pensions management to deliver this DB scheme consolidation vehicle and ensure members a low-risk journey to an insured buyout.'

Clara is establishing a new consolidation vehicle for defined benefit schemes, which will act as a bridge for members from their current company sponsor to the insured market. Clara's pension trust will be independently governed by the incoming board of trustees.

The first trustees will be:

Alan Pickering, CBE, the Chairman of BESTrustees and a trustee of multiple pension schemes. Alan will be Clara's first chair of trustees. Alan currently chairs the Plumbing Industry Pension Scheme and the governance group of the Royal Mail Statutory Pension Scheme. His previous roles include serving as a Non-Executive Director of The Pensions Regulator and as Chairman of the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF), now known as the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association.

Michael Chatterton, Managing Director at Law Debenture. Michael represents Law Debenture on eight pension schemes whose assets range from £100 million to £10 billion. He is chairman on five schemes and sole trustee on two. Before joining Law Debenture, Michael held roles as Head of Settlement Solutions at Watson Wyatt (now Willis Towers Watson) and Chief Executive of Black Mountain Group.

Frank Oldham, a Client Director at Independent Trustee Services. Frank is also a trustee Director of the MMC UK Pension Fund and a Non-Executive Director of a captive insurer. Prior to joining ITS, Frank was Global Leader of DB Risk Consulting and Solutions at Mercer, where he advised both large pension fund boards, with assets ranging from £250 million to £5 billion, and a number of FTSE 100 and multinational sponsors.

Alan Pickering, Chair of Trustees at Clara-Pensions, said 'It is an honour to be asked to take this role since I have spent most of my life helping to fulfil pension promises. I now have an opportunity to help members and employers in a new way by delivering these promises clearly and cost-effectively.'

Commenting on the appointments, Adam Saron, CEO of Clara-Pensions said:

'As Clara gets ready to welcome its first pension schemes and members, establishing our independent board of trustees is a key milestone. Attracting Alan, Michael and Frank, who have each made significant contributions to workplace pensions, underlines the importance of strong governance in the Clara model. We are built on the principle of putting the interests of members first. The collective experience of these trustees greatly enhances our ability to put members on a more secure path to a fully-insured future.'

The formation of the governing board is the first in a series of developments for Clara as it plans to formally launch later this year.

This text was taken from the press announcement made by Clara-Pensions. For more information contact those detailed below.

Media contacts

Jessica Vallance - [e-mail] / 020 3805 4847

Harriet Smith - [e-mail] / 020 3435 7466

For more information, please visit our website at www.clara-pensions.com