Episode summary
Episode 346: William McGrath of C-Suite Pension Strategies: Rethinking and Reframing Corporate Pe...
The Fiftyfaces Podcast
· · Hosts: Aoifinn Devitt · Guests: William McGrath
Summary
William McGrath argues that UK corporate pensions should be treated as an active source of corporate value, not as a legacy burden to be handed away. He says the industry has over-rotated into de-risking and buyouts, while roughly £1.2 trillion remains in private-sector pension assets that could be used more productively if schemes “run on” instead. In his view, many strong corporates could earn more than they need, recycle surplus back to members, and still support the business and the wider economy.
He is especially critical of weak scrutiny in actuarial work, saying the system lacks the discipline needed to challenge assumptions, compare options properly, and expose poor decision-making. McGrath points to repeated reports warning about this gap and says the result has been bad outcomes including the LDI crisis and an overgrown pension risk transfer market. He wants stronger oversight, more transparent data, and simpler regulation that forces better analysis.
McGrath also links pensions to governance and industrial strategy. He says pension schemes should not be carved out of ESG responsibilities and that government incentives could steer more capital into UK productive investment. His broader message is “members first,” but with room for corporates, trustees and the economy to share in the upside if schemes are managed with a longer-term, more active mindset.
Key takeaways
- McGrath says run-on strategies can beat buyout for well-funded schemes and should be considered before handing assets to insurers.
- He argues that the UK still has £1.2 trillion in private-sector pension assets that could be redeployed more productively.
- McGrath says the lack of scrutiny of actuarial work has contributed to the LDI crisis and distorted pension risk transfer decisions.
- He wants pension governance to keep “members first” at the center while still allowing surplus to support corporates and the UK economy.
- McGrath says schemes should not get an ESG carve-out, because pension assets are part of a company’s wider responsibilities.
Notable quotes
“there is still 1.2 trillion in private sector investments in the UK that we could decide how to use”
“run on beats buyout. Just look what you can achieve with it”
“pensions is just something from yesterday not something that they should be thinking about now”
“the lack of scrutiny of actuarial work was a problem”
“don't think it's good enough to walk off the pitch”
How the episode opens
This podcast series is kindly sponsored by Evston Capital. For over 20 years, Evston Capital has had a key focus in identifying early stage investment managers it believes are capable of generating long-term value added returns and complex innovative strategy areas. This series is also sponsored by Alvine Capital.
Alvine Capital is a specialist investment manager and placement boutique with a particular focus on alternative assets, a significant presence in London and Stockholm. I think corporates have become used to maybe they've got almost used as an excuse now to say pensions is just something from yesterday not something that they should be thinking about now that wasn't what it was when I was first a finance director and yeah you could see that part of your HR strategy was to have a good pension and I think now because there's been endless de-risking of the investments and it has been so costly for so many people they It's almost fashionable now to say it's too difficult and I would say that that is just not right and I think now that there has been this de-risking whether that's the right strategy we can endlessly debate and LDI and what a disaster that proved to be but leaving that all to one side what should you do next play forward from here and you've now got a scheme which is actually pretty well funded in most cases and if you're a strong corporate what should you do and really you do have a lot of value. If you think about overall there is still 1.2 trillion in private sector investments in the UK that we could decide how to use.
If you decide that yes, we're not walking off the pitch, we're going to run on, which has been the thing I've been hammering away at since 2018, that run on beats buyout.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- corporate pensions
- members first governance
- pension fund regulation
- run on vs buyout
- uk private sector investments
Companies and tickers mentioned
- C suite pension strategies
- AGA Rangemaster
Watch the episode
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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The Fiftyfaces Podcast, this episode and its artwork belong to Aoifinn Devitt. Octagon is not affiliated with the show; this page is an independent summary.
