Pensions Management Institute

Founded in 1976, the Pensions Management Institute (PMI) is the UK's largest professional body for employee benefits and retirement savings professionals, supporting over 6,500 members in 32 countries.
The purpose of the institute is "To set and promote standards of excellence and lifelong learning for employee benefits and retirement savings professionals and trustees through qualifications, membership and ongoing support services."
PMI's members, represented in 8 regions, are responsible for managing and advising some of the largest institutions in the world, accounting for £1trillion invested in pensions.
History
The PMI was formed in June 1976 by four bodies: The National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) - now the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association, the Society of Pension Consultants (SPC) - now the Society of Pension Professionals, the Association of Consulting Actuaries (ACA) and the Life Insurance Council of the Association of British Insurers (ABI.)
These organisations felt that there should be a professional institute dedicated to setting educational standards and qualifications for those advising upon and managing UK pension schemes. Each of those bodies contributed four senior people to sit on the first PMI council.
The PMI (in conjunction with the Chartered Insurance Institute) held its initial examinations in 1978.
In September 2015, Chief Executive Vince Linnane announced that he would be stepping down after more than thirty years with the PMI, and over ten years in the CEO role. Gareth Tancred was announced as the new CEO in February 2016.
Qualifications
The PMI provides nationally recognised qualifications for those working in the pensions industry and related fields. The PMI offers vocational qualifications, available through PMI approved centres, as well as a range of exam based qualifications.
The PMI offers Award, Certificate, Diploma and Advanced Diploma level qualifications. PMI has worked in collaboration with employers and other professional bodies to create a new entry level apprenticeship standard for workplace pensions consultants or administrators. As of 2012, the PMI was also working alongside Imperial College London to create a MSc in Sustainable Retirement and Investment Management.
As part of career development research carried out by the PMI in November 2015, 65% of 450 members questioned suggested that employers would look to work specifically with people who hold PMI qualifications.
Membership
The PMI offers the following levels of membership:
* Affiliate Membership is available for those who wish to simply have a formal relationship with the PMI without having to start along the qualifications path.
*Student Membership
*Certificate Membership (CertPMI)
*Diploma Membership (DipPMI)
*Associate Membership (APMI)
*Fellowship (FPMI)
*Trustee Group Membership
*PMI Accredited Advisor Programme (PMI AAP)
*PMI Automatic Enrolment Accredited CPD Programme
Continuing Professional Development:
PMI offers a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Scheme for the benefit of its members. Completion and recording of CPD became compulsory for PMI Fellows in 2010 and for Associates in 2011. CPD is not compulsory for other levels of membership.
Other CPD Schemes:
PMI Accredited Advisor Programme (PMI AAP): Individuals are required to undertake a minimum of 35 hours of appropriate CPD.
PMI AE Accredited CPD Programme: Individuals are required to undertake a minimum of 10 hours appropriate CPD in a 12-month period.
PMI Trustee Group CPD Scheme: A board in which each person has achieved 15 hours CPD is eligible for PMI Certificate Achievement.
Regional Groups:
The PMI has a network of regional groups throughout the UK (Eastern, London, Midlands, North East, North West, Scotland, Southern, South West and a sister Institute in Ireland, the Irish Institute of Pensions Managers (IIPM).
Events
The PMI runs a number of conferences, workshops and technical seminars each year. Annual events run by the PMI include an Annual Dinner, which is held at The Dorchester Hotel, an Annual Conference and an Annual Lecture.
The PMI's Annual Conference 2016 saw Baroness Ros Altmann open the event with a welcome speech in which she told delegates that 'the UK was in a pensions and retirement revolution with radical reform happening all the way through from state to private pensions.'
Research
The PMI publishes periodic research reports for members on the results of surveys and the findings from research projects.
The PMI also conducts research projects in conjunction with their appointed Research Partners. These research projects cover many issues which are important to its members and more broadly to retirement savings professionals.
Publications
"PMI News" is the PMI's monthly magazine which is sent to all members. It provides technical feature articles from professionals within the industry, columns from the institute's "expert partners", information to support pension trustees, updates on consultancy and administration, actuarial and investment and legal issues, and updates from the Pensions Regulator and NEST.

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