Deferred member reinstatement ban in SIB phase 1 pension review by Prudential PLC.

The Financial Conduct Authority did not have the information requested.

Dear Financial Conduct Authority,

I have been advised by Prudential PLC that in March 1998 a ban was put on deferred members reinstatement in phase 1 of the SIB Pension review, they tell me that only active members were allowed to be reinstated into their employers pension fund at that point in time.

This statement was made in a letter sent to me by Mr Martin Walker, Prudential Customer Complaints Manager.
He implied that this new rule was an SIB directive...Is that statement true?

If true, when did the SIB give Prudential PLC exemption from prescribed legal review guidelines as I understood at that point in time both active and deferred members were given equal status in relation to reinstatement rules. Indeed I understand that reinstatement into the members pension scheme was a mandatory requirement.

I have made a number of requests to Prudential PLC for sight of this SIB directive but Mr Tim Wilson, Prudential Group Customer Relations Manager, has written to tell me that Prudential will no longer enter into correspondence in relation to my request.

Yours faithfully,

Geoff Griffiths

The Financial Conduct Authority

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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is registered as a limited company in England and Wales No. 1920623. Registered office: 25 The North Colonnade, Canary Wharf, London E14 5HS, United Kingdom

The Payment Systems Regulator Limited is registered as a limited company in England and Wales No. 8970864. Registered office: 25 The North Colonnade, Canary Wharf, London E14 5HS, United Kingdom

Switchboard 020 7066 1000

Web Site http://www.fca.org.uk (FCA); http://www.psr.org.uk (the Payment Systems Regulator Limited)

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Our Ref: FOI5290
Dear Mr Griffiths
Freedom of Information: Right to know request
Thank you for your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the
Act), for the following information.
 
“SIB Phase 1 Pension Review by Prudential Plc - deferred member
reinstatement ban:
 
I have been advised by Prudential PLC that in March 1998 a ban was put on
deferred members reinstatement in phase 1 of the SIB Pension review, they
tell me that only active members were allowed to be reinstated into their
employers pension fund at that point in time.
 
This statement was made in a letter sent to me by Mr Martin Walker,
Prudential Customer Complaints Manager.
He implied that this new rule was an SIB directive…Is that statement true?
 
If true, when did the SIB give Prudential PLC exemption from prescribed
legal review guidelines as I understood at that point in time both active
and deferred members were given equal status in relation to reinstatement
rules. Indeed I understand that reinstatement into the members pension
scheme was a mandatory requirement.
 
I have made a number of requests to Prudential PLC for sight of this SIB
directive but Mr Tim Wilson, Prudential Group Customer Relations Manager,
has written to tell me that Prudential will no longer enter into
correspondence in relation to my request.”
 
Your request has been considered. We are unable to provide you with
details of the information you are seeking as we estimate that to comply
with your request would exceed the 18 hour time limit provided for us.  
This is because information relating to your request is not held in a
readily extractable format.  Therefore we consider that the exemption set
out in section 12 (Over the cost limit) of the Act applies.  For a
detailed explanation as to why this exemption applies, please also refer
to Annex A
 
In order to be helpful, we can provide you with CD ROMs containing legacy
publication for the PIA (Personal Investment Authority) and SIB (The
Securities and Investment Board) which may contain the information you are
seeking.  This is because given the PIA’s close involvement with the SIB
on the pensions review it is likely that some relevant information may be
within the PIA files.  If you wish to receive a copy of the CD ROMs,
please provide a postal address.
 
You may also find it useful to review the FSA Pensions publications
between 1998-2011 on the FSA website at
[1]http://www.fsa.gov.uk/library/other_publ....
 
Yours sincerely
 
Information Disclosure Team / Cyber and Information Resilience Dept
 
25 The North Colonnade
Canary Wharf
London
E14 5HS
 
Tel:    +44 (0)20 7066 8080
 
[2]www.fca.org.uk
 
Your right to complain under the FoI Act
 
If you are unhappy with the decision made in relation to your request, you
have the right to request an internal review.  If you wish to exercise
this right you should contact us within three months of the date of this
response.
 
If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you also
have a right of appeal to the Information Commissioner at Information
Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9
5AF. Telephone: 01625 545 700. Website: [3]www.ico.org.uk
 
Annex A
 

* Section 12 (Costs of compliance exceeds appropriate limit)

We are not required to comply with a request under the Act if it would be
too expensive to do so, as estimated in accordance with the Freedom of
Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations
2004 (“the Regulations”) made by the Ministry of Justice.  The Regulations
provide that, for the FCA, the cost limit is £450, i.e. 18 hours at the
rate of £25 per person hour.  The Regulations allow us to take into
account, when estimating the cost of complying with a request, time spent
determining whether we hold the information requested, locating and
retrieving it and extracting the information from the relevant
document(s).
 
As explained above, information relating to your request is not held in a
readily extractable format.  To give you an indication of the work
involved in complying with this request, we approached the business areas
most likely to hold the information you have requested, and asked them to
carry out an initial exercise. 
 
They identified that in order to comply with your request they would need
to search into all of the documents from the relevant time period and
manually review each of the results to be certain that it fell within
scope of your request.  In this context, we estimate that it would take
well in excess of 18 hours to search, retrieve and extract this
information, which would substantially exceed the £450 limit.  Since our
policy is not to divert our resources from our regulatory functions in
order to meet requests under the Act in excess of the cost limit, we will
not be able to carry out this exercise.
 
 
 
 
This communication and any attachments contain information which is
confidential and may be subject to legal privilege. It is for intended
recipients only. If you are not the intended recipient you must not copy,
distribute, publish, rely on or otherwise use it without our consent. Some
of our communications may contain confidential information which it could
be a criminal offence for you to disclose or use without authority. If you
have received this email in error please notify [email address]
immediately and delete the email from your computer. Further information
on the classification and handling of FCA information can be found on the
FCA website
(http://www.fca.org.uk/site-info/legal/fc...).

The FCA (or, if this email originates from the Payment Systems Regulator
Limited, the FCA on behalf of the Payment Systems Regulator Limited / the
Payment Systems Regulator Limited) reserves the right to monitor all email
communications for compliance with legal, regulatory and professional
standards.

This email is not intended to nor should it be taken to create any legal
relations or contractual relationships. This email has originated from the
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), or the Payment Systems Regulator
Limited.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is registered as a limited company
in England and Wales No. 1920623. Registered office: 25 The North
Colonnade, Canary Wharf, London E14 5HS, United Kingdom

The Payment Systems Regulator Limited is registered as a limited company
in England and Wales No. 8970864. Registered office: 25 The North
Colonnade, Canary Wharf, London E14 5HS, United Kingdom

Switchboard 020 7066 1000

Web Site http://www.fca.org.uk (FCA); http://www.psr.org.uk (the Payment
Systems Regulator Limited)

References

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