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CAPAdata gains FCA authorisation for workplace pension benchmark

Samantha Seaton said: “This achievement belongs to everyone who believes better data means better decisions – and, ultimately, better retirement outcomes.”

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CAPAdata has been authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as a workplace pension benchmark administrator.

Its Corporate Adviser Pensions Average (CAPA) benchmark has been added to the FCA’s official benchmark register.

CAPA compares investment outcomes across defined contribution (DC) pension providers that collectively manage more than 98% of the multi-employer DC sector. 

It tracks each provider’s largest default fund by number of active members.

The benchmark allows pension providers, advisers, trustees, consultants, employers and savers to compare performance at different stages of a member’s savings journey.

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The benchmark also tracks performance for savers five years from state pension age and one day from state pension age. 

It covers asset allocation, environmental, social and governance factors and other parts of workplace pension schemes.

Samantha Seaton, chief executive of CAPAdata, said: “This authorisation is a real milestone for CAPA, but the prize is what it enables: a robust, independent view of how workplace default funds are actually performing, at the points in a member’s journey that matter most.

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“I want to recognise the providers who have submitted their data over the past eight years – and in return, they now have a genuinely independent, regulated benchmark against which to assess their own performance, which I know matters as much to them as it does to the members they ultimately serve.

“This achievement belongs to everyone who believes better data means better decisions – and, ultimately, better retirement outcomes.”

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Andrew Cheseldine, chair of the CAPAdata oversight committee, said: “I am excited to join the Governance Committee of CAPAdata on its introduction as an FCA regulated benchmark. 

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“I have watched it grow over the last 8 years from a germ of an idea in John Greenwood’s head to a highly regarded and widely used data resource.

“Given the focus on scheme data for VfM and regulatory purposes, it is important that our governance framework is robust and transparent – I look forward to working with the rest of the committee to ensure that continues in the future.”

John Greenwood, director of CAPAdata, said: “Risk-adjusted performance will be one of the biggest, if not the biggest determinant of retirement outcome for millions of UK workers. 

“A robust benchmark that the industry can rely on will enable stakeholders of all sorts to compare, contrast, analyse and hopefully improve their investment decision-making.”

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