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Spring NORACS meeting
Leeds partner Louise Witts reports back on the Spring 2002 NORACS meeting.
Nick Salter and Louise Witts attended the Spring meeting of NORACS firms in Canada at the beginning of April. As both Nick and Louise are keen skiers they were delighted when it was decided that the meeting would be held in the popular resort of Whistler, although on arrival they were a little disappointed to discover it was actually taking place in a basement room in the Conference Centre. However perhaps this was a good thing as it allowed them to concentrate on the business of the day, rather than appreciate the fine views of snow covered slopes!
NORACS is an affiliation of North American firms and includes Barnett Waddingham as its representative in the UK. Its membership includes 2 Canadian firm and 6 US firms making it an organisation big enough to rival most North American actuarial and consulting firms. It is recognised that an area of weakness is that the network does not currently include a firm from Mexico and following discussions, approaches are to be made to a Mexican firm to fill this gap.
Many of the issues currently affecting pensions in the UK mirror those which have previously been seen in the US and Canada. In particular North America has already seen a long-term trend from defined benefit to defined contribution schemes. One of the most useful sessions for Barnett Waddingham was the opportunity to share experiences of the issues involved in setting up defined contribution schemes and the alternative arrangements that are currently popular in the US, such as Career Average Revalued Earnings Schemes (CARES) and Cash Balance Plans.
In an increasingly global world, similar issues are likely to affect companies wherever their head office is situated and indeed many companies are not based in a single country. As such it is invaluable to foster relations with advisers overseas who you know you can trust and who are providing the same quality of service to those we expect to provide for our clients. Undoubtedly, the personal contact in these relationships is also key to ensuring a seamless approach in cross-border work and the meeting was a great success on this front too.
The meeting culminated with a dinner in one of Whistler's many restaurants at which Louise and Nick attempted to fully test the Canadians' claim that their local wine was as good as the best European wines!
Louise Witts, May 2002.