The National Association of Pension Funds' (NAPF) departing chairman, Mark Hyde Harrison, has called for a single pensions regulator in his final speech.

Hyde Harrison said that regulation was a serious flaw in the current system, and that it is time to create a single pensions regulator, especially since millions of workers are being automatically enrolled into workplace pension schemes.

He said: "The mass defined contribution (DC) market brought about by auto-enrolment will mean that the current regulatory split of the market between The Pensions Regulator (TPR) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) will become increasingly apparent – and increasingly unsustainable.

"With pensions becoming an employer duty, and with the growth in the numbers in pensions, it can only be a matter of time before we move to a single regulator for pensions. We've been saying this for some time – and we're not alone – but we do need to have this debate quite openly now."

Speaking at an NAPF conference in Manchester, Hyde Harrison told delegates that it would not be an easy task, but that should not mean that the industry should avoid working towards a "better and fairer" system.

During his final speech, Hyde Harrison also announced the launch of the NAPF's new Stewardship Disclosure Framework, which will help funds hold their asset managers to account over how they apply the Stewardship Principle's on the fund's behalf.

He also urged against any breakdown in the political consensus on pensions, and warned that any attempts to 'play around with' pensions tax or to suggest that smaller businesses won't have to auto-enrol at all would be "disastrous".

Regarding the solvency proposals in the new Institutions for Occupational Retirement Provision (IORP) directive, Hyde Harrison urged the European Commission to stop dealing with the past and focus on the 60% of Europe's citizens who have no access to a workplace pension.

First published 16.10.2013

monique_simpson@wilmington.co.uk