Statement by Spence & Partners Limited - Ian Conlon

by Brian Spence   •  
Blog
On 20th October we learned that Ian Conlon, an actuary working for Spence & Partners (S&P), has been acting as a Scheme Actuary to a number of UK Pensions Schemes, which are clients of S&P, without holding a valid certificate to act as a Scheme Actuary. This came to light as part of the Actuarial Profession's regulation and monitoring after the Profession made enquiries of The Pensions Regulator. Following this disclosure Mr Conlon has resigned as a director of Spence & Partners and his employment with this company terminated on 27 October 2008. Mr Conlon has also relinquished his small shareholding in the group of companies of which S&P is a part. The need to have a certificate is a mandatory requirement of the Actuarial Profession. It is a personal requirement of the individual actuary and we are very grateful to the Actuarial Profession for its monitoring activities which have brought this matter to light. No breach of the legislation has occurred as a result of the failure to comply with this professional requirement and no complaints have been received about the actuarial advice provided by Mr Conlon. We do not believe that our clients or their pension scheme members have been disadvantaged in any way. The trustees of all pension schemes affected have been informed and we have notified the Pensions Regulator. Mr Conlon could undoubtedly have obtained a certificate at any time and we are at a loss to explain why he did not obtain a certificate or why he held himself out as having a certificate and it is sad that he has damaged his professional standing in this way. The matter is being investigated under the Actuarial Profession's disciplinary scheme and S&P will help in any way we are asked to in relation to this investigation. S&P does not in any way condone Mr Conlon's actions but we believe that the ethical thing to do is to support Mr Conlon at a personal level at this difficult time and consequently he has been offered a more junior technical role by another company within our group whilst the Profession's investigation is ongoing. For further information please contact David Davison at Spence & Partners (www.spenceandpartners.co.uk) on  0141 331 1004 . Issued on behalf of Spence & Partners by Blueprint Media tel  01... Date: Nov '08 ENDS

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