The Professional Investment Podcast

Naomi Clark, head of product management for USSIM, is our latest guest on The Professional Investment Podcast. She chose the FT’s story that wild temperature swings are becoming the new normal as her news story of the week. Naomi explains how even small temperature variability will create big challenges not only for our health but also for the economy. She noted that article’s emphasis on the econ...

James Lawrence, CIO of Smart Pension, is our guest for episode six of series six of The Profession Investment Podcast. He chose Professional Pensions story that there’s no guarantee DC megafunds will lead to higher returns. We discuss how there is currently a tendency to think bigger is always better in pensions schemes. But any investment professional knows size can also hinder investment returns...

Charlotte Vincent, co-head of fixed income at People’s Pension, is the latest guest on The Professional Investment Podcast. She chose the FT’s story that the Iran war inflation shock is set to fall short of the 2022 surge. Charlotte explains she is always looking at inflation and its impact on fixed income assets as it is important to generate real returns for scheme members to ensure they have a...

In this week’s episode of The Professional Investment Podcast, Calum Cooper, head of pensions policy innovation at Hymans Robertson, joins the show. We discuss Professional Pensions story that The Pensions Regulator is conducting its latest five-year review of its corporate strategy. The regulator said its mission is to protect workplace pensions members' money, enhance the pensions system and...

Maiyuresh Rajah, director of investments at Aviva, is this week’s guest on The Professional Investment Podcast. He chose Pension Age’s story about TPR outlining its vision for megafunds and simplified pensions market by 2036 as his news story of the week. Now the debate about pension schemes investing in private assets has been settled, providers are starting to put their private asset allocations...

This week’s guest on The Professional Investment Podcast is Steve Webb, ex-pensions minister and partner at LCP. He chose the FT’s story that UK ministers gain powers to force pension funds to invest in British companies. After ping-ponging between the House of Commons and Lords, last week the Pensions Scheme Bill became the Pensions Scheme Act. With the industry concerned about the government’s a...

Hartej Singh , head of public credit at the Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC), is our guest for the first episode of series six of The Professional Investment Podcast. He chose Professional Pensions story that defined benefit pension scheme surpluses increase to £210bn in the first quarter of 2026 as his news story of the week. While this undoubtedly a good news story after two decades of defici...

Watch or listen to the best of series five of The Professional Investment Podcast. This series we cover how the LGPS can help the UK to rebuild its infrastructure as well as expanding its local investment. We also discuss managing conflicts of interest and pension scheme risk. And we talk about how master trusts have dominated the DC market as well as how to manage their investment strategies. In...

In the last episode of series five of The Professional Investment Podcast, Martyn James, director of investments at now: pensions discusses how master trusts are taking over the defined contribution market. We talk about the pressure the UK government is putting pension scheme providers under to consolidate and how Mercer’s acquisition of Cardano and now: pensions has given the smaller master trus...

In this episode of The Professional Investment Podcast, Niall Aitken, head of investment strategy at Aegon UK, chose Professional Pension’s story that schemes are adapting portfolio construction as uncertainty becomes structural. We discussed how Aegon is adapting their portfolio strategy both during the wealth growth and wealth spending stages of the member journey. We talk about how private asse...

Darren Masters, professional trustee at Capital Cranfield Trustees, joins us for this episode of The Professional Investment Podcast. His news story of the week is Professional Pension’s story that in-house advisers raise conflict of interest concerns. We discuss the different ways conflicts of interest can arise in a defined benefit scheme such as trustees as employees and possibly also in senior...

Tony English, head of LGPS Investment at Mercer, joins us for the fourth episode of series five of The Professional Investment Podcast. He chose the FT’s story about Canadian pension funds exiting the UK’s largest port operator as his news story of the week. This story shines a light on the challenges facing the LGPS pools and partner funds as they get to grips with the Fit for the Future reforms...

David Walker, chief investment officer at Hymans Robertson, is the guest on this episode of The Professional Investment Podcast. He chose the story LGPS Central is expanding its co-investment strategy as his news story of the week. The government’s Fit for the Future reforms has created huge change for the LGPS. With two pools disbanded, other pools are expanding their partner funds. These organis...

"In this episode of The Professional Investment Podcast I am joined by Claire Altman, managing director of pension risk transfer and individual retirement at Standard Life. She chose Professional Pensions’ coverage of a Hymans Robertson survey showing most defined benefit members are open to run-on. Claire says this story shows the complexities involved in both framing survey questions correc...

In the first episode of series five of The Professional Investment Podcast, Jerry Butcher − workplace savings director at Scottish Widows, talks to me about the government’s new proposed ‘traffic light’ value-for-money framework. Last week a tribe of government departments – The Pensions Regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority and the Department for Work and Pensions – published a consultation...

The best moments from Season 4 of The Professional Investment Podcast. This highlights episode brings together some of the most insightful conversations, standout perspectives, and practical takeaways from across the season. From investment strategy and market insight to leadership, decision-making, and long-term thinking, these clips capture the depth and clarity that defined Season 4.Whether you...

Paul Todd, chief operating officer at Nest Invest, is our final guest for series four of The Professional Investment Podcast. He chose the news pensions minister Torsten Bell wants to give fiduciary duty a legislative overhaul as his story of the week. We talked about the importance of having a broad definition of fiduciary duty when investing, like Nest does, for many decades. Including climate c...

Kinna Patel, head of investment proposition at NatWest Cushon, joins us for this episode of The Professional Investment Podcast. Her news story of the week is the FT’s coverage of the shake-up to salary sacrifice announced at last week’s budget. While this measure is not due to come until 2029 – and could be reversed before then – it seems a counterintuitive move. The government has reformed The P...

The guest for this episode of The Professional Investment Podcast is Phil Butler, deputy chief investment officer for the People’s Pension. His news story of the week is LCP latest research showing progress from master trusts on climate change policy but more to be done in the detail. We discuss how asset owners should approach stewardship - how they need to be clear-eyed about what they need to a...

Gareth Mee, chief investment officer for both Legal & General’s assurance society and institutional retirement division, is the guest for this episode of The Professional Investment Podcast. His news story of the week is LCP’s forecasting up to £550bn in buy-ins over the next decade. We discuss how these vast capital flows are attracting new market entrants with private equity firms snapping u...

In the latest episode of The Professional Investment Podcast, Mitesh Sheth, founder of OrgAlpha and ex-CEO of Redington, joins me to discuss this week’s FT asset management newsletter which focused issues with private credit and equity assets. While market concerns about these asset classes are not new, it’s something that does not often get included in the debate about whether pension schemes sho...

Esther Hawley , head of retirement proposition at Standard Life , joins me on The Professional Investment Podcast this week. She chose the challenges facing the Pensions Commission to deliver meaningful reform as her news story of the week. We discuss how the industry is on the cusp of a new phase – turning the wealth built up in pension pots into a retirement income. The debate about the best way...

In this episode of The Professional Investment Podcast I’m joined by Shalin Bhagwan, chief actuary at the PPF. He chose the news of there being a low likelihood the PPF levy would be reinstated if it is cut as his story of the week. We look at the state of the UK’s defined benefit industry when the PPF was established two decades ago. Back then pension schemes funding positions were highly volatil...

In the first episode of the fourth series of The Professional Investment podcast, James Monk, workplace investment director at Fidelity International joins us to discuss how we can address pension inadequacy. A recent report from Hymans Robertson provided this week’s news story which highlighted the variability in retirement income levels as well as the difficulty for individuals to manage their l...

In the final episode of series three of The Professional Investment Podcast, Charlotte Moore talks to Jesal Mistry, head of DC investments at L&G. We discuss the lessons UK pension schemes can learn from Australian supers about investing in our domestic market. The news that Australian fund manager Macquarie would be investing in UK airports provided the spark for this discussion. In a recent...