What happens to my pension when I die?

With life assurance cover included in your Spectrum benefits, you need to explain your choice of beneficiaries fully and keep your information up to date, or the Trustees may not be able to fully honour your wishes. You can nominate your beneficiaries in Spectrum. Please keep this updated as and when your circumstances change. 

What the Trustees do

The Trustees who look after our life cover have a legal duty to investigate and make sure the money is being paid to the right people. 

As the benefit is paid at the discretion of the Trustees, the amount payable does not normally form part for your estate or Will and is therefore not subject to inheritance tax. 

The Trustees will consider the beneficiaries listed on your nomination form, but it’s not legally binding. They will consider other evidence too. They will look at what you’ve said in your Will and speak to your family, colleagues and friends. 

The Trustees always retain full discretion over where to pay the money, no matter what you have written. Their investigation will consider things like:

• Who was financially dependent on you at the date of your death?
• Do you have a second family?
• Have any children been born since you completed your form?
• Are there other close family members?

Are there any conflicts?

• For example, if you’ve left someone out or said different things in your Will and your nomination form, the Trustees will have to weigh the evidence and decide what’s best. 

That’s why it’s so important to explain how you’ve made your decisions. The Trustees want to respect your wishes, but they also must ensure dependents are properly looked after.

For BNP Paribas’ DC pension scheme with Fidelity (BNP Paribas Pension) the value of your pension savings are paid at the discretion of the Trustees and follows a similar process to the Life Assurance. Therefore, the value of your savings are  not usually part of your estate, so no inheritance tax is due when the money is paid out from the pension plan.

If death occurs after age 75, then the money withdrawn is liable to income tax at the recipient’s marginal rate.

Defined Benefit (DB) pensions are occupational plans that entitle you to a retirement income for life, typically based on your years of service at a company. Some are referred to as “final salary” schemes.

For active members, in addition to your life assurance from BNP Paribas there are death benefits which are typically limited to spouses (or civil partners), and financial dependants - which usually means children living at home under the age of 18, or 23 if they are in full-time education. The specifics for your pension will be defined by the rules of the scheme.

Death benefits from defined benefit schemes will be taxed at the recipient’s marginal rate of income tax (this excludes the Life Assurance arrangement for BNP Paribas, please read previous section).

To find out more about your BNP Paribas defined benefit scheme visit HERE or please contact the relevant scheme administrators:

•  Paribas London Pension Scheme –  bnp.paribas@wtwco.com 
•  Humberclyde Finance Group Pension -  Humberclyde@Barnett-Waddingham.co.uk 
•  Arval UK Employee Benefits Plan -  Arval@Barnett-Waddingham.co.uk 
•  BNP Paribas Real Estate (UK) Pension Fund - RealEstate@Barnett-Waddingham.co.uk 
•  UCB Group Retirement Benefits Scheme -  UCB@Barnett-Waddingham.co.uk