Pensions Week articles from August 2007

Pensions Week archives from August 2007

News: Trinity Mirror pledges GBP50m pensions plug.
August 6, 2007... Byline: Hannah Williams Trinity Mirror has promised it will inject at least GBP50m into its pension schemes as part of any sell-off deal. The media group is in the process of ditching newspaper titles in London, the south east and the...

News: Riley quits Railpen.
August 6, 2007... Byline: Gill Wadsworth Railpen Investments, the investment management arm for the GBP18bn Railways pension scheme, has lost an investment analyst to Hermes. Chris Riley, who joined Railpen as an investment analyst in the scheme's fund...

This Week: No reverse for Rolls Royce.
August 6, 2007... Byline: Gill Wadsworth Reducing a pension deficit by half a billion pounds is no mean feat; sacrifices have to be made, money parted with and conflicts resolved. So the chaps at Rolls Royce must have been feeling pretty pleased with...

News: SWIP flies high after bumper two years.
August 6, 2007... Byline: Ryan Harrison Profits at Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP) have jumped by a quarter to GBP21m in 2007, on the back of buoyant two-year performances in its institutional business. SWIP's results saw increases of 24%...

News: Newsquest slashes benefits for 9,000.
August 6, 2007... Byline: Hannah Williams Nine thousand journalists are facing benefit cuts, as media giant Newsquest imposes changes to its GBP376m pension fund. Scheme members have been told they must increase contributions by 4% in the next four...

News: Fidelity pushes for greater access to DB.
August 6, 2007... Byline: Gill Wadsworth Fidelity Investments has called on the government to scrap onerous legislation that prevents companies effectively managing their pension costs and adopting risk-sharing schemes. The asset manager claimed the...

News: PPF unveils levy calculating system.
August 6, 2007... Byline: Hannah Williams The Pension Protection Fund (PPF) has revealed its long-term risk model, which will be used to calculate the risk-based levy. The calculation will rely on the probability modelling methods often used by...

News in Brief.
August 6, 2007... The Pensions Regulator's trustee toolkit has been given a glowing report by global education body the International Organisation of Pension Supervisors. The group, which represents companies involved in the supervision of private sector...

News: Managers will focus on challenging OTCs.
August 6, 2007... Byline: Ryan Harrison Fund managers have forecast a spending drive in over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives as the industry looks to deflect criticism that it struggles with increasingly complex investment products. Research from Investit...

News: Baker becomes a permanent fixture at AIMA.
August 6, 2007... Byline: Ryan Harrison The Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA) has drafted in former Schroders manager Andrew Baker to fill the newly created role of deputy chief executive. Baker, who was previously chief operating...

News: Alpha popularity continues to rise.
August 6, 2007... Byline: Henry Money Pension fund appetite for high alpha mandates has continued to accelerate, with take-up reaching 36.4% in corporate schemes, according to the Investment Management Association (IMA). In its annual survey of asset...

News: Rolls Royce engineers huge deficit reduction.
August 6, 2007... Byline: Henry Money Rolls Royce has chopped its pension deficit burden by 82% to GBP120m over six months to June after a major cash injection and positive market conditions. Deficits at the firm's five UK schemes had hit GBP665m at the...

News: Firms could overspend on deficits.
August 6, 2007... Finance directors could damage their company's covenant and risk overpaying on pension scheme deficits after significant improvements in funding levels, consultants warned. Martin Potter, partner at Hymans Robertson, argued the last 18...

News in Brief.
August 6, 2007... Building firm J T Dove has hired HSBC Actuaries and Consultants to service its GBP25m defined benefit scheme. HSBC will provide consultancy, actuarial and administrative services for 500 members of J T Dove's scheme. Richard Painter,...

News: Scottish council staff face benefit changes.
August 6, 2007... Byline: Hannah Williams Hundreds of thousands of Scottish council workers could see a shake-up of their pension benefits as consultation on the Local Government Pension Scheme begins. Increased employee contributions, improved accrual...

News: Consultants sidestep ethical issues.
August 6, 2007... Byline: Hannah Williams More than 70% of pension scheme managers are unsatisfied with the way consultants deal with responsible investment and corporate governance issues, research has found. A scheme survey carried out by Pensions...

News: JPMorgan secures second ICI mandate.
August 6, 2007... Byline: Ryan Harrison JPMorgan Worldwide Securities Services has built on its relationship with ICI after securing a custody mandate for the firm's specialty chemicals pension fund. JPMorgan already provides custody services for the...

News: Lost votes weaken process at AGMs.
August 6, 2007... Byline: Ryan Harrison Shareholder voting at company annual general meetings is steadily improving, but acute fears over lost votes still exist, a report by Paul Myners found. Voting levels increased to over 60% from 50% three years...

News: Bestrustees lures another industry veteran.
August 6, 2007... Byline: Hannah Williams Pensions stalwart Penny Green has joined the team at Bestrustees, following her departure from the Pensions Management Institute (PMI). The former president of the PMI will juggle her independent trustee duties...

News: BlackRock LDI secures UCO mandate.
August 6, 2007... Byline: Henry Money The Yorkshire Cooperative Superannuation Fund has allocated 10% of its GBP67m scheme to BlackRock's liability plus solution, as part of a continuing drive to reduce risk. Blackrock's latest liability-driven...

Current Affairs: Myners strikes.
August 6, 2007... What do you see as the main challenges facing the delivery authority? We must develop trust and confidence in the system of personal accounts and I hope my experience with the renewal of the Marks & Spencer pension scheme has some salience for...

News: Branching out with blindfolds on.
August 6, 2007... Branching out with blindfolds on Almost every day, the newspapers contain stories concerning alternative investments of one sort or another, and often for the wrong reasons. Hedge funds are overexposed to sub-prime mortgages, the...

The Insider: Personal View - Personal accounts are just a sticking plaster to cover the gaping hole in the nation's savings.
August 6, 2007... It has been predicted that a one-year increase in life expectancy could raise the total UK private sector pensions bill by some GBP30bn to GBP40bn. If these predictions turn out to be true, it is not just going to be an industry and government...

The Insider: Technical View - ASP death benefits can be taxing.
August 6, 2007... Byline: David Seaton The Queen granted royal assent to the Finance Act 2007 on July 19, 2007 and within it are some additional changes to alternatively secured pensions (ASP). Firstly, the maximum now permitted to be drawn has been...

Industry Watch: Governance.
August 6, 2007... Byline: Tom Powdrill Pension fund investment is increasingly innovative. Only a few years ago, the fairly standard approach for even reasonably large pension schemes would be to appoint one or more fund managers to run balanced mandates,...

Industry Watch: Notice Board - NAPF meeting members' needs.
August 6, 2007... NAPF: Meeting the needs of members Over the coming months, the NAPF will be actively seeking members' views on what we are doing, on both our representational work and the direct member services we provide. Market research We will...

Industry Watch: View from the Bridge.
August 6, 2007... Is the law an ass? My partner, Fraser Younson, to whom I referred last week (and whose email address I revealed) was concerned he would get email responses saying "The law is an ass". I assured Fraser the educated readers of PW would not...

Pensions Workout.
August 6, 2007... Over the previous weeks, we have looked at the concept of absolute return inves-ting and portable alpha. This week, we are addressing some of the portfolio construction issues and investigating one of the roles that absolute return funds can...

On the Move: HSBC vies for property with senior shake-up.
August 6, 2007... Byline: Ryan Harrison HSBC Investments has embarked on a major management rejig to boost its multi- manager presence in the property market. The firm has created a seven-strong real estate multi-manager team, made up of dedicated...

On the Move: Morley research teams hire three.
August 6, 2007... Morley Fund Management has strengthened its fixed income business with a trio of appointments. The firm doubled the size of its quant team with the addition of Robert Goldsmith (pic) from HBOS Treasury Services and Stuart Ritson from...

On the Move: Going Places - Mercer loses out to Watson Wyatt.
August 6, 2007... Watson Wyatt has hired Paul Brown (pic) from rival Mercer Human Resource Consulting as a senior benefits consultant. Brown has 15 years' experience in senior employee benefits and human resource management consulting, and advised Mercer's...

On the Move: Going Places - Spenner takes lead in IAM reshuffle.
August 6, 2007... International Asset Management has appointed Morgan Spenner (pic) as chief executive, and made three promotions in the investment team. Spenner succeeds Albert Fuss, who becomes executive director. Paul McCauley has been promoted in the...

Top 4 Moves.
August 6, 2007... 01. Paul Myners NEW Myners takes charge of the Personal Accounts Delivery Authority as chair designate. He will retain his current Land Securities chairmanship, as well as his recently appointed role as a director to the hedge fund...

News in Brief: The number - 30%.
August 6, 2007... The number of the largest 200 UK pension funds in surplus, despite recent market falls

News: UK scheme hands assets to Citigroup.
August 13, 2007... Byline: Gill Wadsworth One of the world's largest financial institutions has acquired total control of a GBP200m pension scheme, marking the UK's first non-insured transfer of pension assets, Pensions Week can reveal. Citigroup has...

News: Greene makes fundamental career change.
August 13, 2007... Byline: Gill Wadsworth Multi-management house Investment Solutions' chief investment officer (CIO) has left to pursue a writing and film-making career. John Greene, CIO with the South African-based multi-manager, said he would work on...

This Week: An unlikely act of altruism.
August 13, 2007... Proponents of corporate governance have long argued there is more to shareholder engagement than bleating about directors' pay and casting a halfhearted vote at the annual general meeting. However, many UK pension schemes have been...

News: PPF supports D&B despite concerns.
August 13, 2007... Byline: Ryan Harrison The Pension Protection Fund (PPF) has defended its decision to retain Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) as insolvency risk provider for two more years following concerns about the reliability of the firm's failure scores. ...

News: Threadneedle buys Convivo for EM expansion.
August 13, 2007... Byline: Hannah Williams Threadneedle has snapped up GBP236m hedge fund business Convivo Capital Management as part of its expansion into emerging markets. The move aims to increase the company's presence in currency and debt markets as...

News: Hambro poised to poach in expansion.
August 13, 2007... Byline: Hannah Williams Burgeoning boutique firm J O Hambro Capital Management (JOHCM) is on the hunt for an established team of global equity specialists as part of its latest expansion. The GBP3.9bn investment management firm hopes...

News: Council drops KBC for Euro mandate.
August 13, 2007... Byline: Henry Money The GBP1bn Shropshire County Council pension fund has ditched KBC Asset Management from a GBP50m property mandate, in favour of a GBP50m pan-European brief run by Goodman Property Investors (GPI). The local...

News In Brief.
August 13, 2007... - Unilever has boosted its pension fund net surplus by more than GBP200m since the start of 2007. The grocery giant announced a net surplus on funded schemes of GBP1.3bn, and a further GBP200m drop in unfunded pension liabilities. The...

News: LAPFF blasts FTSE 350 for poor audit reports.
August 13, 2007... Byline: Ryan Harrison FTSE 350 firms have come under fire after just under a quarter failed to provide adequate reporting on audit practices to pension schemes. The Local Authority Pension Fund Forum (LAPFF) claimed there was a huge...

News: Funds query consultants' capability.
August 13, 2007... Byline: Hannah Williams More than a third of pension schemes have doubts about their advisers' ability to keep ahead of the investment market, PW research showed. However, funds reported an overall satisfaction with the consultancy...

News: Capital International loses fourth local authority mandate.
August 13, 2007... Byline: Henry Money The GBP1.2bn Cumbria County Council pension scheme is the latest in a line of local authorities to drop Capital International, sacking it from a GBP180m UK equities brief following underperformance. The Cumbrian...

News: Treasury hits back at pensions tax link.
August 13, 2007... Byline: Ryan Harrison The government has angrily refuted as `ridiculous and misleading' a Liberal Democrat report that claimed nearly all private sector pension savings were taxed to prop up public workers' retirements. The Liberal...

News: Trustees want more time for DC plans.
August 13, 2007... Byline: Henry Money Huge swathes of pension fund trustees feel they need more time to spend on their defined contribution (DC) pension schemes, research said. Watson Wyatt found four out of five trustees polled believed not enough time...

News In Brief.
August 13, 2007... - Over a thousand factory workers from helicopter manufacturer Augusta Westland downed tools last week in protest over pension cuts. Despite a 2% increase in employee contributions earlier this year, the firm has proposed closing its final...

News: Drug firm loses out in India after backlash.
August 13, 2007... Byline: Hannah Williams Drug firm Novartis has lost its court battle to patent medicines in India, following unprecedented protests from UK pension funds worth a combined GBP1.7trn. The pharmaceutical giant had hoped to tighten...

News: Standard Life Sipp sales rocket 82% in a year.
August 13, 2007... Byline: Ryan Harrison Standard Life has posted a 45% increase in its UK life and pension sales to GBP6.95bn since 2006, driven by its self-invested personal pensions (Sipp) business. The firm's individual Sipp sales were up by 82% to...

News: Letter.
August 13, 2007... I cannot understand why the use of highly experienced pension professionals as independent trustees should cause concern within the industry. Who better to understand the intricacies of the job than those who have spent their lives serving...

News: Cartesian captures UK equity mandates.
August 13, 2007... Byline: Henry Money Cartesian Capital has landed two UK equity mandates worth GBP290m underlining institutional investors' growing appetite for boutique managers. The firm secured a GBP170m multi-manager account to be run for Russell...

News: Surpluses not safe from volatile market.
August 13, 2007... Byline: Ryan Harrison FTSE 100 companies still face a real threat from the volatility of their pension scheme funding levels despite posting a dramatic GBP12bn surplus, Lane Clark & Peacock (LCP) has warned. LCP found FTSE 100 pension...

News: 8% not enough for a decent quality of life at retirement.
August 13, 2007... Byline: Henry Money The government's proposed 8% overall contribution to its personal accounts will land members with woefully inadequate savings on retirement, research has found. Risk manager Barrie & Hibbert found an 8% contribution...

Current Affairs: Liberal Rebel.
August 13, 2007... Byline: Gill Wadsworth Parliament's summer recess will prove a welcome break for all those MPs appointed to roles in work and pensions, particularly as they wind down from a frenetic few months spent getting to grips with their complex...

Current Affairs: The Americans capitalise on inertia.
August 13, 2007... Byline: Lindsay Tomlinson The various reviews on the future of the UK pensions system have looked at a variety of systems run in other countries for lessons. In particular, the systems in Sweden, Australia and Chile have been thought...

The Insider: Personal View - Employers must open up annuities and avoid taking the easy option.
August 13, 2007... Byline: Michael Thraves Members of defined contribution (DC) pension schemes can easily miss out on the best possible level of retirement income, simply because their employers fail to provide them with access to the open market option...

The Insider: Technical View - Predicting the spectre of inflation.
August 13, 2007... Byline: Andy Howse Pension schemes and other institutional investors have benefited from relatively low inflation for some time. However, recent economic growth in major markets, notably the UK and Europe, has resurrected the spectre of...

Industry Watch: Governance - What goes up must come down?
August 13, 2007... Byline: Tom Powdrill We will all have seen studies demonstrating that trustees often pick fund managers with stellar returns at the point at which performance tails off - while they sack very poorly performing managers just as they turn...

Industry Watch: Notice Board - NAPF deregulation seminar.
August 13, 2007... Hot topic seminar: The deregulation review - sustaining good provision? September 19: 09:30 - 12:45 NAPF, NIOC House, 4 Victoria Street, London SW1H 0NX On July 25, the deregulatory review of occupational pensions was published by...

The Insider: View From The Bridge - Start of the silly season.
August 13, 2007... Byline: Norman Russell August is the `silly season'. It is also the start of the football season. But the less said about that in August the better - some would say. The silly season is my reason for bringing together today's apparently...

Consultants Survey: Trusty30.
August 13, 2007... Byline: Hannah Williams Consultants have long been seen as necessary guardians in the world of pension fund management, providing trustees and employers with much needed advice. However, criticism from fund managers about overzealous...

On The Move: Martin Currie team flourishes with five.
August 13, 2007... Byline: Ryan Harrison Martin Currie has ramped up its research and product development business with the appointment of five managers to its investment team. The specialist manager hired Claire Marwick as an analyst, Paul Danes as a...

On the Move: Going Places - Origen strives to attract new business.
August 13, 2007... Origen has hired Mark Pearson and Chris Holmes in a drive to attract new business from a broader range of clients. Pearson, who has over 20 years' experience in the financial consulting sector, joins as business development director and...

On the Move: Going Places - Kim joins Credit Suisse in Zurich.
August 13, 2007... Credit Suisse has secured Yong-Moon Kim as managing director and head of global equities for asset management in a push to grow its equities business worldwide. Kim who has more than 17 years' experience in equity research, will lead a...

On the Move: Going Places - HSBC scoops Richardson from KPMG.
August 13, 2007... HSBC Actuaries and Consultants has enticed Colin Richardson away from KPMG to take up the post of actuarial director. Richardson has 20 years' experience advising pension schemes and worked as a director at KPMG. Steve Robinson...

On the Move: - Top 4 Moves.
August 13, 2007... 01: Guy Morrell OLD - Was previously global chief investment officer at HSBC Specialist Investments NEW - Has joined the HSBC multi-manager operation as head of the real estate team Tel: 020 7991 8888 02: Robert Goldsmith ...

On the Move: News in Brief - The number - GBP6bn.
August 13, 2007... The drop in aggregate FTSE 100 pension scheme funding levels since mid-July, due to market volatility

News: UK schemes launch action against GSK.
August 20, 2007... Byline: Ryan Harrison The Avon and North Yorkshire pension funds are pursuing legal action against UK pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) over allegations the firm misled investors about a drug said to cause heart problems. [] The...

News: Murray quits HSBC for MS.
August 20, 2007... Byline: Hannah Williams HSBC Alternative Investments has lost its business development head to rival firm Morgan Stanley. [] Jamie Murray, who was with HSBC for more than a decade, has defected to become executive director of Morgan...

News: Martin Currie drafts fund recovery plans.
August 20, 2007... Byline: Ryan Harrison Martin Currie has laid out plans to repair its UK and Japanese equities business after suffering three years of under-performance. [] Caps pooled pension fund figures ranked the specialist manager's UK growth fund as...

News: Long-term levy calculations get the thumbs down.
August 20, 2007... The Pension Protection Fund's (PPF) proposals for calculating the scheme levy have been branded as retrograde by advisers. [] Consultation to decide the best way of securing stable levy calculations began earlier this month, with the pensions...

News: Citigroup transfer heats up buyout competition.
August 20, 2007... Byline: Hannah Williams Investment banks are poised to muscle into the pensions buyout market following in the footsteps of Citigroup, consultants predicted, piling pressure on existing insurance outfits. [] Citigroup became the first...

News: Regulator lays down the levy law.
August 20, 2007... Byline: Hannah Williams The Pensions Regulator is clamping down on outstanding levy debts, hauling two late paying schemes through the courts in the last month. [] The Gwent-based Berkersoft company was forced to settle its dues for the...

News.
August 20, 2007... Byline: News in Brief - The government has been urged to rethink regulations on the calculation of transfer values from final salary pension schemes. [] First Actuarial warned plans to exclude employers from the calculation process went...

News: William Blair sets its sights on UK investors.
August 20, 2007... Byline: Ryan Harrison Chicago-based William Blair Investment Management has continued to ratchet up its presence in the UK pensions market as part of its wider strategy to diversify outside the US. [] The boutique manager, whose first...

News: S&P launches shariah-compliant indices.
August 20, 2007... Byline: Hannah Williams Standard and Poor's (S&P) has launched a trio of shariah-compliant indices, allowing UK pension funds to invest in pan-Arab companies within the rulings of Islamic law. [] Each index will cover publicly-traded...

News: Barclays turns to Russell for third-party funds.
August 20, 2007... Byline: Ryan Harrison Barclays has outsourced the management of its GBP2bn Barclays Bank UK Retirement Fund (BBUKRF) to US-based asset manager Russell Investment Group. [] Russell Investments has been appointed by Barclays to create a...

News: Takeover sees BAA deficit soar to GBP212m.
August 20, 2007... Byline: Ryan Harrison Airport operator BAA has seen its pension scheme deficit rise by 63% to GBP212m between March and December 2006, soon after the takeover by Spanish firm Ferrovial. [] The increase has been put down to changes to...

News: Schroders hooks Humphreys for LDI team.
August 20, 2007... Byline: Gill Wadsworth Schroders has hired an ex-Watson Wyatt investment consultant to its liability-driven investment (LDI) team to work alongside ex-Mercer recruit, Neil Walton. [] Mark Humphreys, an investment consultant in Watson...

News.
August 20, 2007... Byline: News in Brief - State Street Corporation has expanded its alternative investment offering by acquiring Palmeri Fund Administrators (PFA) for an undisclosed sum. [] The acquisition will build on the firm's private equity offering....

News: Welsh police fight for full benefits.
August 20, 2007... Byline: Hannah Williams Retired police officers in south Wales have called on the attorney-general to support them in a long-running battle over pensions. [] The Retired Officers Against Police Pensions Abuse (ROAPPA) has written to...

News: Media has greater influence than professional advice.
August 20, 2007... Byline: Simon O'Brien Press reports have a bigger impact on people's decisions to take out a self- invested personal pension (Sipp) than financial adviser recommendations, acc- ording to a survey by CoreData Research UK. [] The survey...

News: Capita wins two-year distillery deal.
August 20, 2007... Byline: Ryan Harrison Capita Hartshead has secured a two-year contract to provide third-party pension administration services to the Morrison Bowmore Distillers pension scheme. The distiller, which is owned by the Japanese Suntory Group...