Between the 28th and 30th August I will be attending the International Pension & Employee Benefits Lawyers Association’s (IPEBLA) 18th International Conference in Amsterdam. This is a fantastic opportunity to meet with lawyers from across multiple international jurisdictions to discuss trends and issues in pension law.

At the conference, I will be speaking as part of a panel on; “Your Employer is Bankrupt, now what? Developments in minimum levels of protection for DB pensions”. As part of this panel discussion, I will be covering the following key questions:

• What steps can trustees take if they are informed of a sponsoring employer’s insolvency before the event?
• What happens to the pension scheme on insolvency?
• What are the Pension Regulator’s (TPR) ‘moral hazard powers’ and when might they be used?

The talks will also discuss the international reach of TPR, and its ability to enforce regulatory powers internationally. There have been several cases to date of TPR using their powers overseas, however, this still remains a relatively untested area.  

An interesting parallel is the case of SFO v KBR, in which the power of the SFO to enforce its power to request information under the Criminal Justice Act 1987 against overseas entities was not wholly supported by the Courts. Our colleagues Justin Briggs and Joelle Chess have commented on this case last year.

This promises to be a really interesting discussion and I am looking forward to seeing other attendees at the conference.