The Pensions Administration Standards Association (Pasa) has re-accredited seven of its corporate members.

The administrators who achieved re-accreditation were LCP, UK Power Networks Pensions Services, Lothian Pension Fund, West Midlands Pension Fund, Spence & Partners, Hymans Robertson, and Dalriada Trustees. Commenting on the re-accreditation, Pasa accreditation committee chair, Lorraine Harper, said: “Following a thorough and comprehensive assessment process we’re delighted to confirm seven of our accredited members have reaffirmed their gold standard for high quality pension administration. These organisation’s services clearly demonstrated the excellence and professionalism required to meet the exemplary standards set out in the Pasa accreditation benchmark.”

Punter Southall has launched a digital retirement solution, Pension Potential, which aims to make retirement planning simpler.

The service, aimed at businesses, their employees, pension schemes and their members, was launched after data from the Financial Conduct Authority revealed a third of savers don’t take regulated advice when accessing their pension. The service will therefore provide personalised financial advice and guidance to individuals, allowing them to make informed decisions about their pension and retirement options. It will also offer information about retirement choices, including annuities, drawdown, cash, and mixed options, with a range of simple tools, including online retirement and lifestyle calculators and an ‘all of market’ annuity search solution allowing individuals to select the best deals.

M&G has invested €107m into the European Fund for Southeast Europe to boost entrepreneurship, job creation, and poverty reduction.

M&G’s purpose-driven private assets strategy, Catalyst, and external funds managed by M&G’s private credit team form the basis of the investment. Catalyst is a £129bn Prudential with Profits Fund. This is M&G’s second investment into an impact driven public private partnership model following a $90m investment into the Microfinance Enhancement Facility, which funds more than 120 financial institutions in 44 countries. The fund provides access to finance for underserved microfinance lenders and financial institutions in developing countries in the southeast and east of Europe. It has provided micro, small, and medium enterprise funding to more than 50,000 female-owned enterprises and around 2.1m jobs have been indirectly supported by financing received through partner lending institutions since 2005.

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