In an interview with PW’s sister title Pensions Management, Alan Rubenstein, who has been in charge of the pensions lifeboat for less than three weeks, also predicted “a significant uptake in schemes applying for protection over the next 12 months”.
The PPF’s board had consistently claimed it would not reduce benefit payments until the levy was taken up to the maximum amount, as set out by legislation. Though Rubenstein said: “Would we ever have to think about that? It would be foolish of me to rule it out.
“We would want to make sure that we had explored all other possible solutions before we got round to using it, but parliament gave us that lever for a purpose.”
Rubenstein revealed his first priority as chief executive would be to announce the PPF’s response to industry feedback over its risk-based levy proposals.
The full interview will be in May’s Pensions Management.
To watch an extract of the interview, go to www.pensionsandinvestmentgroup.com/media.
