Another piece of ammunition for anyone wanting to buy a personal pension is a report that BCP Stockbrokers and Fund Managers have brought out on pension investment managers.
Over the past few months, BCP met with the individual fund managers of 13 major pension providers - though interestingly, not with Equitable Life, the only company that does not pay commissions to intermediaries (such as BCP's life and pensions division) or with AIBIM, which manage the pension fund assets of AIB's life company Ark.
The report identifies the members of each participating fund management team and how long they have been together; whether part or all of the fund management is done from Dublin or in Britain, the size of their fund and its current ranking. They then identify their overall investment strategy, and whether they are "economics driven" or "stock driven".
BCP also looked at the five-year fund performance record and the report ends each section with a few general comments about the suitability of the company's investment style for pension contributors of a certain age or risk profile.
BCP defines an economics driven investment strategy as one in which "the individual investment selection is the last stage of the investment process". A stock driven strategy "involves the selection of investments based on their underlying attractiveness without taking into account of the relative appeal of sectors or the overall investment environment". Most of the fund management strategies are economics driven, says BCP.
Of the 13 fund managers examined, just five undertake all their dealing from Dublin, two (Scottish Provident and Standard Life) base their dealing desks in Edinburgh and the others have a mixture of deal locations - mainly Dublin for Irish share deals and London for international equities.
For a free copy of the report, telephone BCP Stockbrokers at (01) 668 4688.
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