UK - David Norgrove, chairman of the UK Pensions Regulator (TPR), is stepping down at the end of this year.

Norgrove, who was appointed as the first TPR chair in January 2005 and then reappointed in 2008, will have completed two three-year terms.

During his tenure, TPR issued its first contribution notice against a Belgian company, ordering Michel Van De Wiele Group NV (VDW) in July to pay £5m (€6.2m) into the Bonas Group Pension Scheme.

TPR also issued a Financial Support Direction against 25 companies in the Nortel Group in Canada, the US, the UK and Europe, requiring them to provide support to the UK pension scheme to cover a £2.1bn deficit.

In December 2009, the National Association of Pension Funds accused TPR of "scaremongering" over enhanced transfers, while more recently, Hewitt blasted the regulator over a "presumption of guilt" in its statement on incentivised transfers.

Steve Webb, UK minister for pensions, said he was grateful to Norgrove for completing his second term and his "considerable contribution" over the last six years.

The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) said the Secretary of State would begin looking for Norgrove's replacement as early as next month.

The DWP said it wanted the new chair in place by January 2011 so that he or she might help select the regulator's next chief executive.

Former chief executive Tony Hobman resigned in May to become head of the Consumer Financial Education Body, created by the government to improve consumers' knowledge of financial services.

 

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