Operation and ownership
How the arrangement would be run
Investment funds hold the assets. The sharing agreement governs transfers between members.
A member commits a chosen amount across an investment ladder. The investment policy determines how each rung is invested. The sharing rule determines which account receives a committed balance following a death. The release schedule determines when that commitment ends.
Who does what
| Function | Responsibility |
|---|---|
| Pension wrapper | Defines participation, payments and the member’s contractual rights. |
| Investment manager | Manages the dated funds under their investment mandates. |
| Custodian | Safeguards assets and settles authorised transactions. |
| Pool administrator | Maintains membership, valuations, death evidence and the account ledger. |
| Calculation engine | Proposes allocations and calculates the pool’s capacity under the declared model. |
| Verification and oversight | Checks instructions independently and handles exceptions, disputes and handovers. |
These are distinct responsibilities; a provider could perform more than one. Several providers could operate their own pools. The legal wrapper, permissions and tax treatment would have to be established for each implementation.
Joining a pool
Admission depends on the member’s committed balance, mortality assumptions and the other members. An account’s share of assets alone cannot establish fair capacity. The check must also cover the continuation conditions promised by the arrangement.
Additional contributions would be allocated across the remaining ladder and checked against current capacity. Multiple accounts belonging to one member represent one life. Participation through different providers requires each pool to assess its own commitments.
Releasing and paying income
In the worked design, a rung leaves sharing one year before payment. After release, that money belongs to the member or their beneficiaries. Later rungs retain their original commitments.
Scheduled releases change the accounts left in the pool. Equal proportional reductions leave relative feasibility unchanged; member-specific releases can improve or worsen it. The payment schedule therefore enters the capacity calculation.
When ordinary operation cannot continue
The contract needs a response for a pool that cannot make its next required allocation, a provider that closes, delayed death evidence and a member who outlives the last planned rung. If no members survive, the assets need a specified recipient because a survivor-only rule has nobody to pay.
A transfer to another accepting pool could preserve a commitment and its release dates. The capacity research examines the economic constraints. Settlement when no pool can accept the transfer remains part of the operating-policy research.