United Pensions is a €1.2bn cross-border pension fund providing a complete outsourced solution with best-practice governance. Employers benefit from the ability to consolidate defined benefit (DB) obligations as well as delegate investment decisions and governance requirements to professionals with experience.

The fund’s investment solution is delivered by Aon’s fiduciary business. United Pensions also uses local experts from Aon’s global investment practice to provide strategy advice in each country across the EU, adapted to meet the different requirements and local needs in different markets. A similar approach is used for administration, using Aon administrators or third parties to ensure compliance and familiarity with local regulations.

United Pensions has also established a multi-employer international defined contribution (DC) solution. The International Retirement Savings Plan enables employers to deliver DC retirement savings to employees that are internationally mobile or in locations with no established or suitable market for supplementary retirement plans.

The pension fund’s strong governance model ensures legal compliance is integrated at several levels. For example, an independent compliance officer is appointed to monitor overall compliance and annually report to the board and the Belgian regulator and a dedicated pension fund manager is responsible for ensuring compliance with the Belgian prudential regulations on an ongoing basis.

United Pensions has adopted an integrated approach to responsible investment to deliver high returns while also meeting environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations. Its passive fund manager uses engagement and negative screening to achieve an improved ESG profile compared to the benchmark. Meanwhile, the active equity managers integrate a consideration of ESG factors into their stock selection process.

Employers using United Pensions can also access other tools such as Aon’s Risk Analyzer, which collates and analyses information from across a company’s global pensions offerings. This can aid oversight and governance at a high level.