The Pension Protection Fund (PPF) is looking for a new chief executive after Alan Rubenstein quit the organisation.
Rubenstein (pictured) will leave the UK’s pensions lifeboat in early 2018 after nine years to seek a “fresh challenge”.
The actuary and former investment banker joined the PFF in 2009. More than 235,000 savers have since been taken under the PPF’s protection since, while assets under management have reached £30bn from £2.9bn.
PPF chair Arnold Wagner said Rubenstein leaves the organisation in a strong position, but the task now is to find a successor to “pilot the PPF through its next phase of development”.
Rubenstein said after eight years the time is right to seek a fresh challenge.
“The PPF has grown from an organisation whose very survival was in doubt to one which is now a firmly established part of our national pensions fabric,” he added.
“Above all, between the Pension Protection Fund and the Financial Assistance Scheme, which we run for government, almost half a million people are now better off thanks to the protection we provide.”
Hugh Nolan, a director at pension consultancy Spence & Partners and president of the Society of Pension Professionals, said Rubenstein will leave big shoes to fill.
“Under Alan’s stewardship, the PPF has generated a healthy funding position and remains on track to reach self-sufficiency status by 2030, which is a remarkable achievement,” he added.
Rubenstein, a former vice chair of the National Association of Pension Funds, provides investment advice to the trustees of the British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme. He also sits on the board of insurer Esure.