Pensions Week articles from August 2005

Pensions Week archives from August 2005

News: Pensions minister derided over comments on retirement age.
August 1, 2005... The government has hinted that it will raise the state pension age to 67 by 2020, contradicting announcements that it would remain unaltered. Comments made by minister for pensions reform Stephen Timms at the launch of the Institute for...

News: Hewitt no match for expat lifestyle.
August 1, 2005... A principal investment consultant at Hewitt Associates has resigned to pursue a career in the Middle East. Sean Daykin, senior investment consultant at Hewitt, is leaving the UK for Kuwait. Andy Tunningley, head of UK investment...

News: Hedge funds post disappointing figures for June.
August 1, 2005... Hedge funds cost investors money in June, posting losses of nearly 1%, according to the MSCI hedge fund composite index. The MSCI world sovereign debt index lost 0.87% at end of June and has lost 4.01% over the year to date. However,...

News: Court of Appeal rules against KPMG in oe70m deficit case.
August 1, 2005... The Court of Appeal has upheld the High Court decision that the KPMG pre-2000 pension scheme is defined benefit, making it ultimately responsible for a deficit of over GBP70m. KPMG originally took its case to court in July last year,...

News: Parliamentary group calls for policy consensus.
August 1, 2005... The Parliamentary Pensions Group, launched by secretary of state for work and pensions David Blunkett last month, has called on political parties to form a consensus on UK pensions policy. The all-party parliamentary group is made up of...

News: Poll: workers willing to save if exact retirement income is clear.
August 1, 2005... People want to know exactly what they will get in retirement if they are to save, according to research from pension provider B&CE. Forty-two per cent of UK workers said they could be encouraged to save if details of their retirement income...

News: PPF welcomes use of insolvency insurance as tool to reduce levy.
August 1, 2005... Insurance bought to cover against company insolvency will reduce the risked- based levy schemes will pay into the government's pensions lifeboat, from April next year. The Pension Protection Fund (PPF), established to support members of...

News: Framlington to join Axa stable after HSBC sale.
August 1, 2005... Fund management house Framlington is to change hands from HSBC to Axa Investment Managers (Axa IM) in a deal worth GBP174m. The entire GBP4.5bn of Framlington's assets under management will pass to Axa, boosting the firm's UK equity...

News: BGI launches suite of liability-driven investment funds.
August 1, 2005... Barclays Global Investors (BGI) has launched 16 liability-driven investment (LDI) pooled funds after amassing GBP16bn in LDI mandates. The BGI Liability Solutions funds are comprised of three groups of pooled funds including: sterling...

News: Watson issues shares following strategic acquisition.
August 1, 2005... Watson Wyatt & Company Holdings is to issue 11 million shares following its acquisition of Watson Wyatt LLP earlier this year. In addition, shareholders have approved the election of Babloo Ramamurthy to the board of directors once the...

News: News in brief.
August 1, 2005... WORCESTERSHIRE LOOKS TO RECOUP COMMISSION The GBP970m Worcestershire Council Pension Fund has put out to tender for a commission recapture mandate. An appointment will be made on the basis of accuracy, reliability, quality and...

News: Industry voices concerns over transparency of SRI funds.
August 1, 2005... Fund managers have expressed serious concerns over the lack of transparency, valid data and research associated with socially responsible investment (SRI) funds. Industry experts have urged investors to do more research when choosing a...

News: Tullett forms derivatives trading desk.
August 1, 2005... Tullett Prebon, part of Collins Stewart Tullett, has formed a property derivatives trading desk to capitalise on the untapped potential of the GBP120bn UK commercial property market. The trading desk will build on the experience of Tullett...

News: DC Link sets up secure OCP.
August 1, 2005... Third-party administrator DC Link has set up an online contribution processing (OCP) service to provide clients with a secure way of sending payroll information. The service will enable schemes to send the information via the internet, and...

News: Letters - Political leanings?(Letter to the Editor)
August 1, 2005... I am 66 and still working - out of choice. Having paid National Insurance for 44 years I have a full but basic state pension. I have a reasonable defined contribution pension fund and have (just about) got over Gordon Brown's dividend hit on...

News: Don't miss future editions of the Trustee Masterclass.
August 1, 2005... Have you been keeping up to date with the Trustee Masterclass series produced as a joint initiative between Pensions Week and Merrill Lynch Investment Managers (MLIM)? The Trustee Masterclass aims to help UK pension fund trustees with the...

News: ABI urges policy reform to make pensions less complex.
August 1, 2005... The government has failed to appreciate the complexity of pensions and should make life easier for savers by allowing them to consolidate their pensions into a single fund, according to the Association of British Insurers (ABI). In a...

News: Pensions Commission head made a peer.
August 1, 2005... The chairman of the Pensions Commission, Adair Turner, is set to continue his leading role in the political debate over the future of the UK's pension system following the announcement that he will be elevated to a seat in the House of Lords....

News: Pre-tax profit of oe8m for Scottish Widows.
August 1, 2005... Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP) has seen a pre-tax profit of GBP8m to 30 June 2005 compared to GBP2m for the previous year. Improved market performance and increased revenues from new business contributed to the rise, the fund...

News: FSA guide for investors.
August 1, 2005... The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has put forward proposals for the introduction of a quick guide for consumers, which would set out the most important factors they need to consider before buying a particular investment product. Under...

News: Psolve selected for oe1bn fund.
August 1, 2005... The GBP1bn Durham County Council pension fund has selected Psolve Asset Solutions to act as investment consultant. The appointment follows Psolve's recent win with the GBP1.5bn Avon pension fund (PW 25.7.05) to carry out an investment...

News: NAPF looks to protect tomorrow's pensioners.
August 1, 2005... Millions of workers are exposed to poorly governed pension schemes, according to the UK body representing employer-sponsored funds. The National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) has called for a new voluntary code of pension scheme...

News: Three-way response to issue of third-party reporting guidance.
August 1, 2005... The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales has teamed up with the National Association of Pension Funds and the Investment Management Association to produce guidance for third-party reporting in financial services. The...

News: Standard Life breaks through the oe100bn assets barrier.
August 1, 2005... Standard Life Investments' assets under management have reached GBP105.7bn breaking the key GBP100bn barrier during the first half of the year. The finance house has grown its funds under management by 69%, since 1998. Third-party...

News: Trustee - A little light reading.
August 1, 2005... When I wrote recently that trustees would have a heavy summer of reading ahead, I was thinking of the various codes of conduct emanating from the Pensions Regulator. I had reckoned without a 92-page tome from the Pension Protection Fund (PPF)...

Update: NAPF notice board.
August 1, 2005... NAPF's regional conference 2005, in association with the NAPF Local Group Network, Tuesday 4 October, Cardiff Marriott Hotel Such was the positive feedback from last year's NAPF regional conference in Birmingham that we are expecting some...

Update: Ombudsman watch.
August 1, 2005... How far are pension providers responsible for informing their policyholders? In a recent ombudsman case, Prudential argued that it was not responsible for informing the complainant, Mr T, of changes in legislation that might affect his...

Governance update: Vedanta vindicated in director selection.
August 1, 2005... Analysts at Research Recommendations and Electronic Voting (RREV) use the NAPF corporate governance policy as a flexible framework on which to base their judgments of company practice fully respecting the 'comply or explain' principle of the...

Spotlight: New ways of taking a pension post A-day.
August 1, 2005... Income drawdown has numerous benefits for anyone with a large pension fund looking for maximum flexibility in retirement. The facility to defer annuity purchase until age 75 is extremely attractive, particularly for those with other assets to...

Opinion: Leader - Flippant remarks eliminate any feeling of confidence.
August 1, 2005... Controversy and contradiction have descended on the politics of pensions yet again following ill-advised remarks from minister for pensions reform Stephen Timms. While still trying to make a positive impression on a cynical pensions...

Opinion: Personal view - UK should follow US lead in promoting 'save for tomorrow'.
August 1, 2005... The 'save more tomorrow' initiative is a system that encourages employees to commit to future increases in their contributions to defined contribution (DC) pension schemes. It establishes a preset mechanism for members to increase their...

Opinion: Inside view - Gateway to the future for money purchase schemes.
August 1, 2005... Anyone involved in pensions realises that defined contribution (DC) differs considerably from defined benefit (DB). Not just that they are different benefit types but DC is a fundamentally different animal from DB in the way it works and the...

People on the move: Mellon appoints Kitcat to head up alternatives.
August 1, 2005... Mellon Global Investments has appointed Jo Kitcat as head of UK sales, alternative investments. Kitcat joined this month reporting to Jonathan Lubran, director of UK institutional sales at Mellon Global Investments in London. His role is...

People on the move: Deakin accedes to top job as Manifest pursues global offering.
August 1, 2005... Manifest Information, the UK-based corporate governance and proxy voting provider, has appointed Michael Deakin as chairman, and Kevin Brady as a non- executive director. Deakin steps up from non-executive director as the current chairman,...

People on the move: Martin Currie appoints two new managers.
August 1, 2005... Martin Currie Investment Management has appointed Rahul Sharma as a sector manager for consumer stocks, and Andrew Mathewson as fund manager. Sharma joined Martin Currie to research and recommend consumer stocks. He joined from Citigroup...

People on the move: Chigariro takes up position at BAM.
August 1, 2005... Britannic Asset Management has appointed Tassius Chigariro as an investment manager. Chigariro will be working with Eddie Middleton, director of liability-driven investment, developing liability-led solutions for the pension fund market....

News Just In... : F&C upbeat over Isis merger despite drop in funds under management.
August 1, 2005... F&C Asset Management has seen institutional funds under management fall by GBP200m in the last three months and by GBP100m since its takeover of Isis Asset Management last year. The fund manager reported total assets under management of...

News Just In... : Hewitt secures adviser role from Securicor.
August 1, 2005... The GBP700m Securicor Group pension scheme has appointed Hewitt Associates as actuarial adviser to the scheme. Hewitt, which already provides actuarial services to the Group 4 Securicor scheme, will be charged with ensuring adherence to the...

News: Performance slide continues at BIAM.
August 8, 2005... Bank of Ireland Asset Management (BIAM) has seen the worst performance for pooled balanced funds, global equities and overseas equities despite the fund manager's concerted efforts to reverse underperformance. The Caps pooled pension fund...

News: Trustees should take climate change into account.
August 8, 2005... Risks from climate change can no longer be ignored by pension fund investment strategies and should be included in the trustee's fiduciary duty to manage risk and maximise return, pensions experts claimed. A report published by the Carbon...

News: Sale of DeAM arm prompts review.
August 8, 2005... The sale of Deutsche Asset Management's (DeAM) equity arm has prompted the GBP330m Dumfries and Galloway pension scheme to place its equities mandate under review. The scheme put out to tender for UK and overseas equities following the...

News: Pension funds push UK to top of corporate governance lists.
August 8, 2005... Pension fund activism has propelled Britain to the top of global corporate governance lists. The UK and the Netherlands have the best overall corporate governance standards in the developed world, according to a study by socially...

News: Funds getting poor returns from cash, says SWIP.
August 8, 2005... Pension funds are getting poor returns from cash accounts and should consider liquidity funds as an alternative, fund manager Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP) claimed. Research by the fund manager found that the average return...

News: US Treasury responds to demand for 30-year bonds.
August 8, 2005... The US Treasury has re-launched 30-year bond auctions following demands from pension funds around the globe. The first auction is expected in February 2006 of around $10bn to $12bn (GBP5.62bn to GBP6.74bn) worth of the bonds, with a second...

News: Simplification tool for lifetime allowance.
August 8, 2005... Winterthur Life has created an online simplification tool to help independent financial advisers (IFAs) analyse and understand how the new lifetime allowance may affect their clients. The tool - Lifetime Allowance Planner - aims to help...

News: Growth strategy pays off as Framlington tops the tables.
August 8, 2005... Framlington Investment Manage-ment was the best performing balanced fund for the year to date, reinforcing Axa Investment Managers' decision to acquire the business. Framlington, which has been bought out by Axa IM to form Axa Framlington...

News: BGI profits rise by 60%.
August 8, 2005... Barclays Global Investors saw a strong performance over the year with an increase in profits of 60%. The fund manager saw profits up by GBP91m to GBP242m, compared to GBP151m last year, according to its 2005 interim results. Net fee...

News: Pearson plumps for bonds.
August 8, 2005... Media giant Pearson has rejigged its GBP1.2bn pension fund in favour of bonds, following an asset liability modelling exercise. Pearson, which owns Financial Times Business, publishers of Pensions Week, increased its bond holding by 5%. At...

News: Pension savings need to rise by 27%.
August 8, 2005... People need to be saving up to 27% more for their pensions, according to Medical Sickness, the provider of financial advice to dentists and the medical community. The call for more savings followed the report by the Pensions Commission,...

News: News in brief - Wirral invests oe5m into Henderson PFI.
August 8, 2005... The Wirral pension fund, administered by Merseyside Council, is to allocate GBP5m into the Henderson private finance initiative (PFI) secondary fund. The scheme has an investment of E7m (GBP4.9m) in the Standard Life European strategic...

News: News in brief - PPF tenders for administrator.
August 8, 2005... The Pension Protection Fund (PPF) has put out to tender for an administrator. The selected firm is required to provide administration and payroll services for individuals entitled to a deferred or current compensation from the PPF having...

News: News in brief - Hampshire police to outsource admin.
August 8, 2005... The Hampshire Police Authority has gone out to tender for an administrator ahead of a new police pension scheme. The authority decided to outsource management services and administration to UK police forces of the new police officers...

News: DWP proposals for professional trustees welcomed.
August 8, 2005... Draft proposals by the Department for Work and Pensions to allow professional trustees to be excluded from the 50% calculation for the required percentage of member nominated trustees (MNT) has been welcomed by industry experts. Proposals...

News: Liabilities wipe out gains made by reduction in scheme deficits.
August 8, 2005... Pension schemes of FTSE 100 firms saw their deficits reduce by GBP12bn during July as a result of rising equity markets and rising bond yields. This is the largest single reduction monthly since October 2003, and leaves the estimated...

News: SachsenFonds named co-asset manager of ACEPF.
August 8, 2005... The Aviva Central European Property Fund (ACEPF), launched by Morley Fund Management and King Sturge in January 2005, has appointed SachsenFonds as co- asset manager to the fund. SachsenFonds will work alongside King Sturge and be jointly...

News: Letters - B&CE poll.(Letter to the Editor)
August 8, 2005... You report (PW 1.8.05) that research by B&CE revealed that 33% of workers would like to see their pension contributions matched by government. Surely all of us would like our contributions to be so matched. Our expectation of it happening may...

News: Don't miss future editions of the Trustee Masterclass.
August 8, 2005... Have you been keeping up to date with the Trustee Masterclass series produced as a joint initiative between Pensions Week and Merrill Lynch Investment Managers (MLIM)? The Trustee Masterclass aims to help UK pension fund trustees with the...

News: Neptune rises on MM horizon.
August 8, 2005... Multi-managers will be forced to jostle for position with even more competitors following Neptune Investment Management's arrival to the market. North Investment Partners, an independent wholly owned subsidiary of Neptune, will offer...

News: F&C outsources Japanese equity mandate to GSAM.
August 8, 2005... Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM) has been selected by F&C Asset Management to manage a sub-advisory Japanese equity portfolio. The GBP120m Japanese equity portfolio will be managed by GSAM's quantitative equities team. David...

News: CSAM opens liquidity fund.
August 8, 2005... Institutional investors chasing liquidity can access an investment platform from Credit Suisse Asset Management (CSAM). The Credit Suisse premier liquidity fund offers diversified deposit-based returns with high liquidity for investors who...

News: Staffordshire overhauls its investment strategy.
August 8, 2005... Staffordshire County Council has made a number of structural changes to the management of its GBP1.6bn pension fund. As part of a wholesale rethink of the fund's asset allocation, the local authority has appointed Standard Life Investments...

News: Scales on PRA board.
August 8, 2005... London Pensions Fund Authority (LPFA) chief executive Peter Scales has been appointed to the Pre-Retirement Association (PRA) board of trustees. Scales joins the educational charity to assist with introducing financial literacy to the...

News: Debate rages over PPF compensation cap.
August 8, 2005... The Pension Protection Fund's (PPF) GBP25,000 compensation cap could prove a boon for the private pensions industry. Employees could be better off hedging their bets by taking out an additional stakeholder plan alongside their occupational...

News: IFAs get web-based fund selection system.
August 8, 2005... A support group for solicitor and accountancy financial advisers, SIFA/SIFAC, has launched fundSIFTA, a web-based investment fund selection system for independent financial advisers (IFAs). The fund, which the firm claims to be the first of...

News: Benchmark - Accountancy rules.
August 8, 2005... For most pensions professionals, the accounting standards debate has centred on FRS 17 and its successor, IAS 19. These standards, which determine the basis of accounting for pension costs, have had a considerable impact on defined benefit...

Update: NAPF notice board.
August 8, 2005... New research reveals improvements in investor engagement The NAPF's first annual survey of pension funds' engagement with companies reveals progress in the adoption of institutional shareholder committee (ISC) principles on better...

Update: Ombudsman watch.
August 8, 2005... Prudence I once knew a girl called Prudence. She was a teenager at the end of the 60s. I always thought it was brave of her parents to give her that name. But could they reasonably have expected, in the 50s, some of the excesses of the...

Governance update: Support for Plasmon chairman's re-election.
August 8, 2005... One of the contentious aspects of the new combined code is whether the board chairman may remain as a member of the audit and remuneration committees. The Smith report guidance indicates that he should not be a member of the audit committee,...

Spotlight: Getting the trustee message across.
August 8, 2005... The Pensions Act 2004 has made formal training imperative for trustees. Sections 247-8 require trustees to be conversant with scheme documents, for example trust deed and rules (as amended), scheme booklet, statement of investment principles,...

Opinion: Leader - Will the PPF be as effective as the PCB?
August 8, 2005... And so we bid farewell to the Pensions Compensation Board (PCB). From 31 August 2005, the PCB will cease to exist, having its functions taken over by the Pension Protection Fund (PPF). But will anyone notice it's gone? Created in response...

Opinion: Personal view - What's the prudent approach to pension scheme funding?
August 8, 2005... Defined benefit (DB) pension schemes are moving rapidly towards the era of scheme-specific funding. Will this mean a major change to current funding approaches? Will it mean further contribution hikes? It might, and partly because of a proposed...

Opinion: Inside view - Debunking the myths behind compulsion.
August 8, 2005... The Pensions Commission estimates that close to 10 million people in the UK are undersaving - 60% of the work force in the UK. Which? has just signed up to the People's Pension Coalition, standing shoulder to shoulder with the Trades Union...

People on the move: Dwyer takes responsibility for new UK business at Mellon.
August 8, 2005... Mellon Global Investments has appointed Mark Dwyer as vice- president, UK sales, for the transition management group. He joins from DSTI where he was managing director of the HiRisk division, tasked with building the brand across Europe and...

People on the move: Mann moves to F&C.
August 8, 2005... F&C Asset Management has expanded its emerging debt team with the recruitment of Jonathan Mann as director, emerging debt. Mann joins from Standard Asset Management, a division of Standard Bank. At F&C he will report to Helene...

People on the move: Hymans hands Harper a partnership.
August 8, 2005... Hymans Robertson has appointed Rob Harper as a partner and senior actuary in its Birmingham office. He joined from Mercer Human Resource Consulting where he spent 16 years. Harper will focus on the growth of Hymans' business in the...

People on the move: Pinsent adds two solicitors to its team.
August 8, 2005... Law firm Pinsent Masons has expanded its pensions team with the appointment of two solicitors to its London office. Darren Becker joins as a solicitor this week (Monday). He previously worked as a trainee solicitor for Linklaters. The...

News Just In... : PCB makes final compensation payment before paving way for PPF.
August 8, 2005... The Pensions Compensation Board (PCB) has completed its final payment before its closure at the end of this month. Its largest payment was more than GBP2m to the Cheney pension scheme, which accounted for 98% of the GBP2,942,479 total...

News Just In... : Former senior partner barred by FSA.
August 8, 2005... The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has clamped down on abuses of the pension review system by banning a senior partner from conducting pensions business. Jonathan Elms, a former senior partner at financial advisers Teare Rose, has been...

News: PMI questions the point of 50% MNT rule.
August 15, 2005... Forcing schemes to appoint 50% member-nominated trustees (MNTs) will drain company resources and fail to add value, the Pensions Management Institute (PMI) warned. Mike Sullivan, chairman of the PMI trustee committee, expressed concern...

News: Hillingdon seeks manager for oe100m global equities mandate.
August 15, 2005... The GBP475m London Borough of Hillingdon pension fund has put out to tender for a GBP100m UK and global equities mandate, accounting for 20% of the scheme's assets. The tender for the new mandates follows a recent review of the fund's...

News: Govt to focus on trustees and SRI.
August 15, 2005... Trustee knowledge and understanding and issues of socially responsible investment (SRI) are priority areas for government focus, following the pensions minister's first meeting with an industry-elected trustee panel. Stephen Timms,...

News: Tax relief would be incentive to cut deficits, says SPC.
August 15, 2005... The Society of Pension Consultants (SPC) has called on HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) to relax the rules on how corporation tax relief is given on large 'catch up' pension contributions, so that companies can benefit immediately. Catch up...

News: Old Mutual product targets cash balances.
August 15, 2005... Old Mutual Asset Managers (OMAM) is targeting cash balances held in self- invested pension assets with a cash plus return product. Old Mutual Prosper 80, which will come into effect in September, has a target return of cash plus 4% a year...

News: IFAs: steady as she goes on property and Sipps.
August 15, 2005... Despite the current fuss being made over residential property and self- invested personal pensions (Sipps), independent financial advisers (IFAs) are taking a steady approach. According to a study by Skandia, 72% of IFAs believed that...