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Portrait ofKeith Webster

Keith Webster

Partner

CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang LLP
Cannon Place
78 Cannon Street
London
EC4N 6AF
United Kingdom
Languages English

Keith is a partner in the Pensions team. He advises trustees and employers running large occupational pension schemes on all areas of pensions related law, including litigation. He has particular expertise in investment and de-risking, including asset-backed funding, insurance buy-ins and longevity hedging. Keith also regularly advises pension providers on their pension products, particularly master trusts and group personal pensions arrangements.  Keith is a fellow of the Pensions Management Institute and an elected member of its Advisory Council.

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"Keith Webster of CMS has a reputation for his excellent technical abilities, with one commentator describing him as an ‘extremely talented and clever individual’."

Chambers & Partners

Leading Individual – Pensions

Legal 500, 2015

Relevant experience

  • Trustee clients range from a GBP 20m scheme to the multi-billion pound scheme of a high street bank.  Trustee advice includes:
    • An asset backed funding arrangement involving use of the employer’s key brands.
    • A Court application to confirm validity of scheme closure.
    • The implications of the takeover of the group parent company and consequent group refinancing including putting in place funding guarantees and security.
  • Advice for employers includes:
    • In relation to formal enforcement action taken by the Pensions Regulator following a failure to agree an actuarial valuation with the trustees.
    • On implications of historic invalid execution of scheme documentation.
    • Numerous scheme closure exercises.
  • Advice for pension providers includes:
    • A bulk annuity provider on numerous buy-in and buy-out transactions.
    • A leading benefit consultant on setting up DC master trust.
    • MetLife on set up and ongoing compliance of income guarantees within its drawdown personal pension product.
  • Chairman of a Business Action Group providing support from the business world to staff and pupils at a new sixth form College in Newham, East London.
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Memberships & Roles

  • Fellow, Pensions Management Institute
  • Chair, Association of Pension Lawyers Investment Committee
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Publications

  • Contributor to the Pensions Law Handbook (16th Edition), Bloomsbury Professional.
  • ‘RPI reform is not just and equitable’, Professional Pensions.
  • NAPF Guide to Investment Management Agreements ABI/NAPF Good Practice Guide to Bulk Insured Annuities.
  • Contributor to the Pensions Law Handbook (15th Edition), Bloomsbury Professional.
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Lectures list

  • 2016 - PMI Annual Conference: Responsibilities of Parties
  • 2016 - TISA Seminar: Legal pitfalls of the new retirement income space
  • 2016 - Association of Consulting Actuaries Annual Pensions Conference: Legal Update
  • 2015 - NAPF: Pensions and VAT
  • 2014 - Institute and Faculty of Actuaries annual conference: The Scheme Actuary as data controller
  • 2013 - LexisNexis: GMP Equalisation 
  • 2012 - APL Annual Conference: Asset backed funding structures
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Education

  • 1995 - LPC, College of Law
  • 1994 - MA, St Johns College, Cambridge University
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Feed

08/02/2024
Trustee Knowledge Update – November 2023 - January 2024
Trustees of occupational pension schemes have a statutory duty to ensure that they have an adequate knowledge and understanding of the legal issues relevant to their scheme. They must also ensure that...
10/01/2024
TPR General Code of Practice - great expectations for good governance
The long anticipated General Code of Practice from The Pensions Regulator has been laid before Parliament today, with an expected go-live date of 27 March 2024.The General Code replaces ten of the existing...
10/11/2023
Trustee Knowledge Update – August-October 2023
Trustees of occupational pension schemes have a statutory duty to ensure that they have an adequate knowledge and understanding of the legal issues relevant to their scheme. They must also ensure that...
09/10/2023
CMS launches 16th edition of the Pensions Law Handbook
CMS is delighted to announce the launch of the 16th edition of the Pensions Law Handbook, the definitive guide to pensions law and practice in the UK. Written by the CMS pensions team, it is an essential...
08/08/2023
Trustee Knowledge Update - May - July 2023
Trustees of occupational pension schemes have a statutory duty to ensure that they have an adequate knowledge and understanding of the legal issues relevant to their scheme. They must also ensure that...
16/06/2023
Contracted out schemes - are your amendments valid?
The High Court has handed down an important, and potentially problematic, judgment on the effectiveness of historic amendments to contracted-out DB pension schemes. Trustees will need to work with their...
03/05/2023
Trustee Knowledge Update - February - April 2023
Trustees of occupational pension schemes have a statutory duty to ensure that they have an adequate knowledge and understanding of the legal issues relevant to their scheme.  They must also ensure that...
15/03/2023
The end of the lifetime allowance
In today’s Budget, the Chancellor of the Exchequer has announced dramatic pensions tax changes - increasing the annual allowance from £40,000 to £60,000, and scrapping the lifetime allowance entirely...
14/03/2023
LDI, the Gilt Crisis and Claims Risk
In this webinar we will be looking at the recent UK Gilt market failure and the resulting LDI crisis, and exploring the potential for litigation to arise out of it. In this session, Keith Webster and...
03/02/2023
Trustee Knowledge Update – November 2022 - January 2023
Trustees of occupational pension schemes have a statutory duty to ensure that they have an adequate knowledge and understanding of the legal issues relevant to their scheme.  They must also ensure that...
17/01/2023
The Pensions Regulator: Supporting Defined Contribution Savers in the current...
SummaryOn 12 January the Pensions Regulator issued a statement continuing to challenge trustees to support members with DC benefits. The statement lists a number of actions which the Regulator says it...
17/01/2023
The Pensions Regulator: Supporting Defined Contribution Savers in the current...
Summary On 12 January the Pensions Regulator issued a statement continuing to challenge trustees to support members with DC benefits. The statement lists a number of actions which the Regulator says...