Ireland's Pensions Board has said it is generally satisfied with the level of compliance from registered administrators, though some issues have been identified in its inspections of RAs over last year.

In a report detailing the findings of inspections of 12 RAs last year, the board noted a considerable improvement in administration standards in recent years, and acknowledged the “positive level of cooperation and assistance” inspectors received in carrying out the reviews.

However, there were a range of areas requiring attention. In some cases, inspections revealed that RAs had not prepared full member benefit statements as required by law, with some not meeting statutory deadlines and others not containing all the necessary information.

At present RAs failing to meet this requirement must immediately rectify the situation and ensure it does not happen again, but The Pensions Board said that future breaches may result in sanctions.

Also, instances were identified in which RAs were not preparing annual reports for schemes, and others in which reports were prepared but did not include all of the necessary disclosure information.

In the report, the board said that RAs will be subject to ongoing scrutiny and any future instances of non-compliance may result in sanctions being imposed.

The inspection process has changed this year, as the board seeks to increase the number of RAs inspected in 2012 and streamline the approach to inspections.

In January the board requested a number of RAs to provide certain information in relation to their administrative systems and procedures, and the board will be selecting a number of RAs from this group for inspection during 2012.

The board also intends to carry out a number of call-back inspections on some RAs who were inspected during 2010 and 2011.

Access the full report here

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