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(This is a follow up to part 1 which you can see here .  Posted by  Patrick Lee   on 15 August 2017). Proposed First Draft I've now completed a first draft of a proposed standard, as a Microsoft Excel file (118kB, so quite small). You can download it here . Comments/criticisms most welcome. Let's make this happen! Why Microsoft Excel? I've chosen to put it in an Excel file (as opposed to CSV or other non proprietary formats) for the moment because Excel offers the following advantages: we can put several different worksheets/tables in a single file field headings can have explanatory comments I've using colour coding to visually group similar fields. The goal The goal is to provide a standard format for (initially UK) defined benefit pension plans to exchange data with authorised 3rd parties (actuaries, insurance companies, investment analysts, potential purchasers etc) to enable valuation/cashflow calculations to be performed more efficiently, with r...

I've just watched several videos and read a good article on the Semantic Web (also called Linked Data and Web 3.0, in which not just humans but computers can understand content) by Brian Sletten . It would be good for the pensions and insurance industry to play its part in helping the web move towards 3.0 (something that will have even more of an impact than Web 1.0 did in about 1998, and Web 2.0 - the advent of social media which enabled everyone to connect and become a publisher - in about 2008) and I will be writing more about this soon. Click the image below to go to an interactive map of several existing linked data sets (across a wide range of disciplines, including life sciences, geography, publications, government data). (Posted by Patrick Lee on 14 August 2017).

I have long thought it would be useful for there to be a standard format for exchange of data files for DB (Defined Benefit, i.e. final salary or career average revalued) pension plans, at least in the UK initially. This would make it easier for pension plans to share information (with actuarial consultants, but also other advisers e.g. buyout companies, investment analysts), not just in mergers and acquisitions, but also in risk transfers (longevity, or pensions buyouts) and would improve the comparability of analysis across companies by investors etc.  It should also reduce costs for trustees and plan sponsors, and may increase the quality of the data held. I think this both with my InQA hat on (I declare an interest in that our pensionsconcerto.com product would be well placed to use such a standard), but also from the point of view of being an improvement for the pensions industry generally.  Investment banks have standard formats for exchange of information abo...