Trustee Educational Academy 2024

BlackRock's purpose and mission is to help people experience financial well-being. Working together with each of you, we believe that contributing to a more equitable and resilient world, especially for your members. With this in mind, I would like to welcome you personally to the BlackRock Trustee Educational Academy. Leveraging the success of the BlackRock Educational Academy, we believe that now more than ever, investing time and further knowledge is crucial and will ultimately benefit the members you serve.

It is a time of great uncertainty across the political, financial, environmental and social spheres. I am honoured that BlackRock has a platform to share our thought leadership with this crucial and highly influential group, consisting of trustees and other key pension scheme officers. Many of our clients come back to the BlackRock Educational Academy year after year, with over 80% recommending it to colleagues.

Our hope is to replicate its success with the Trustee Educational Academy. Whilst we are proud of the support we can offer, our goals are actually much broader. We are aiming to create a forum for professional trustees to come together to discuss best practice, market updates and key topics affecting the pension environment, and ultimately the members you represent.

The world in which we live in has changed remarkably over the last three years, and the UK retirement landscape has also gone through a period of transformation. Our intention is to cover a broad range of fundamental and emerging topics based on the five key trends we have identified as affecting the UK retirement landscape.

They are:

1. The new macro regime, living in an inflationary environment with higher interest rates and greater market volatility

2. Consolidation, encompassing both DB and DC schemes driven by affordability

3. Demographics, where we look at intergenerational wealth transfer, the decumulation of assets and the role that technology is playing

4. Sustainability, that is the acceleration of net zero commitments, increasing regulation and transparency, and the democratisation of asset management.

All amongst the backdrop of our fifth trend, the rise in inequality. That is how the cost of living is impacting savings, the politicisation of savings, and how political instability is leading to uncertainty of pension regulation.

We designed the Trustee Educational Academy to give you access to these pertinent topics and contents in a way that will hopefully suit your schedule and learning style. Whether it be via virtual or in-person events or, our every growing on-demand library. In addition to our live events and on-demand playbacks, will also create a one stop shop for the white papers most relevant to you. We hope this will support you and your organisation's educational efforts. We also hope that the BlackRock Educational Academy will serve as a critical resource in expanding your knowledge of financial markets, enabling you to make the best decisions on behalf of the members you represent.

These events and sessions have the best minds discussing focused topics. Leverage the opportunity to have your questions answered directly from our suite of expert practitioners. It's our intention that these events will serve another purpose. Hundreds of trustees representing DB and DC clients across the UK, the Trustee Educational Academy, provide you with a unique opportunity only to expand your knowledge, but also expand your network with like-minded individuals.

Finally, your engagement and feedback are greatly appreciated. Let us know how we’re doing, how we can improve and evolve the Academy. Ultimately, we want you to get the most out of this platform, and if you have any views on topics, events, or even the platform itself, we'd love to hear from you. Thank you for participating and thank you for contributing.