Pensions Week articles from June 2006

Pensions Week archives from June 2006

News: Calls to prevent voting secrecy grow louder.
June 5, 2006... Byline: Daniel McAllister The government must force fund managers to disclose voting records as secrecy in the City reaches a "high water mark", Trades Union Congress' (TUC) general secretary will say this week. Brendan Barber's...

News: Universities scheme could create internal alternatives team to boost asset allocation.
June 5, 2006... The GBP21.7bn Universities Super-annuation Scheme (USS) is considering setting up an in-house alternative investment team as part of plans to increase its allocation to alternatives. Britain's second largest pension fund after BT is...

News: Morley builds and flexes its muscles in high alpha space.
June 5, 2006... Byline: Gill Wadsworth Morley Fund Management has strengthened its presence in the high alpha and alternatives space with a spate of hires and a mandate win. The recruitment of Ian Lancaster and James Fellows to its UK equity team...

News: UK is a trailblazer of liability-driven strategy.
June 5, 2006... The UK is one of the countries in Europe leading the way in liability-driven investment (LDI) with 44% of schemes either using or considering the strategy, a survey by JPMorgan Asset Management revealed. The UK is placed fourth after the...

News: Westminster reforms portfolio.
June 5, 2006... Byline: Christine Senior The City of Westminster Superannuation Fund has completed the restructure of its investment portfolio with the appointment of five specialist managers to replace two balanced mandates. The scheme has awarded...

News: PPF on brink of signing up with Capita.
June 5, 2006... The Pension Protection Fund (PPF) is in contract negotiations with Capita Hartshead to administrate its compensation payments. The PPF is in the final stages of appointing Capita as compensation administrator for members of collapsed...

News: Henderson hedge admin moves to JPMorgan.
June 5, 2006... Henderson Global Investors is outsourcing the middle and back office services for its hedge funds to JPMorgan Hedge Fund Services. As part of a multi-year contract, JPMorgan will be servicing Hendersons' 14 hedge funds with over GBP1bn in...

News: Glasgow takes an active route with hire of Mellon.
June 5, 2006... The UK's second largest local authority fund has appointed Mellon Global Investments to run a currency overlay mandate. Glasgow City Council, part of the GBP6.2bn Strathclyde scheme, selected Mellon to take control of GBP150m, to be run on...

News: Gartmore channels distribution while continuing to grow.
June 5, 2006... Gartmore Investment Management will merge its institutional, alternative and retail arms following its acquisition by private equity house Hellman & Friedman. In a process the company describes as 'streamlining', Gartmore will create one...

News: Surpluses plan bodes well for schemes.
June 5, 2006... Byline: Christine Senior A proposal in the government's white paper to change the rules on surpluses could encourage firms to pay more into schemes by making it easier to reclaim money from future surpluses. This is one aspect of plans...

News: Letters.
June 5, 2006... The new tax regime and lump sum 'protection' There is concern in some quarters that pension scheme members whose tax-free cash entitlement at A-day is protected (because it amounts to more than 25% of their fund) may receive less than 25%...

News: FAS losers outweigh winners.
June 5, 2006... Byline: Daniel McAllister The Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS) will leave more than half of eligible schemes' members with less pension than if the safety net had never been set up, a pensions expert warned. The government's announced...

News: Market fall kicks deficits skyward.
June 5, 2006... A recent fall in the stock markets has triggered a one-month increase in pension scheme deficits of GBP20bn, research by Aon Consultants has revealed. In one of the biggest movements in recent years, company pension deficits rocketed last...

News: FAS number crunching.
June 5, 2006... - When the now youngest scheme member eligible for the Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS) reaches the age of 65, the cap in real terms will be GBP8,171, a drop of 32% if the member had a retirement age of 65. - If the retirement age was 60,...

News: Sting in the tale - Completely clueless.
June 5, 2006... Byline: Steve Bee I recently conducted a poll on my BeeHive website asking pension advisers to rate the level of knowledge employers have on the A-day changes. The prompt for asking was that it seems to me, as I speak to so many people...

News: Activist fund manager eager to make UK mark.
June 5, 2006... Byline: Gill Wadsworth Pension schemes are gearing up for greater emphasis on corporate governance following the entrance of a shareholder activist fund management firm to the UK market. Asset manager Knight Vinke will target UK...

News: Employer payments will rocket by 2008.
June 5, 2006... Pensions contributions made by employers are set to rise as high as GBP36bn over the next two years, a consulting firm predicts. In its survey of 200 of the largest UK companies, Aon Consultants found these employers expect to contribute...

News: Regulator praised for contingent support.
June 5, 2006... Byline: Daniel McAllister The Pensions Regulator's decision to trumpet the use of contingent assets to reduce scheme pressures on employers has been applauded by the industry. The regulator's guidance last week was aimed at trustees...

News: REITs need more flexible structure.
June 5, 2006... Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) will fail as a format for property investment companies unless the rules surrounding them are made more flexible, warned F&C Asset Management. F&C said the current structure of REITs limits its...

News: Henderson unveils global hedge fund.
June 5, 2006... UK investors can access a global equity hedge fund following the launch of an alternative investment fund by Henderson Global Investors. The global equity multi-strategy hedge fund will cover markets in Europe, the US and Asia-Pacific. ...

News: Lawyers warn more age claims in store.
June 5, 2006... Byline: Ryan Harrison Imminent age discrimination laws in occupational pension schemes will lead to a barrage of claims at a huge cost to employers, lawyers have warned. The European directive on age discrimination will come into force...

News: Former Deutsche couple start up specialist business management firm.
June 5, 2006... Former Deutsche senior executives and married couple Lindy and Neil Jones have set up a business management firm, Academy Business Consulting, for the UK savings and investment industry. Targeting fund managers, life companies and...

News: Banks should not give advice.
June 5, 2006... Byline: Ryan Harrison Investment banks are ill-equipped to meet the growing demand for advisory services to companies designing their pension arrangements, investment consultants claimed. Investment banks, including Barclays, are...

News: Commodity stocks still in demand.
June 5, 2006... Commodities will continue to hit turbulence but long-term global economic growth should keep demand outstripping supply, said ABN Amro Asset Management. "Market valuations of commodity stocks have lagged the advance seen in materials...

News: With-profits option offers retirees a higher income.
June 5, 2006... Pensioners could boost retirement income by opting for with-profits annuities over conventional options, according to Prudential. Pensioners retiring this year are almost 4% worse off than those who retired a year ago, as annuity rates...

News: SWIP aims high with global securities fund.
June 5, 2006... Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP) has launched a multi-manager fund offering pension schemes exposure to the global real estate securities market. The SWIP multi-manager global real estate securities fund aims to provide a...

Campaign for Pensions Justice: Reporting the reality behind the headlines.
June 5, 2006... John Howitt pension scheme member "I was a member of the John Howitt Senior Managers pension scheme from 1966 to 1994. At my date of leaving the company, my accrued pension was GBP12,376 a year. (Guaranteed minimum pension (GMP)...

Governance Watch: Voting rights, remuneration and rulings at Antofagasta.
June 5, 2006... Antofagasta will hold its annual general meeting on June 14, 2006 and RREV is raising several corporate governance concerns with regard to the company. The first concern involves the fact that Jean-Paul Luksic combines the roles of...

Spotlight: Onto a winner.
June 5, 2006... Byline: Mark Adamson Broken metatarsals aside (and bear in mind that before the last World Cup, few of us knew what or where a metatarsal was), when England football coach Sven-Goran Eriksson planned his squad and tactics for the...

News: NAPF Notice Board.
June 5, 2006... NAPF Annual Conference and Exhibition 2006 June 8-9, ExCel London The recently published pensions reform white paper has kept the future of UK pensions firmly in the spotlight. In the biggest pensions shake-up in 50 years, there will...

News: Ombudsman Watch.
June 5, 2006... Them and us Much has been written in the national press and in PW about the widening gap between public and private sector pensions. There has been talk of a new class divide. It is said there will be those enjoying public sector pensions...

Opinion: Leader - The golden trophy of reform progress is in sight.
June 5, 2006... Byline: Gill Wadsworth There have been two topics of conversation on the PW news desk this week: the World Cup and the white paper (not necessarily in that order). Having been inundated with responses to the government's proposals for...

Opinion: Personal View - White paper recognition of women's work as carers does not necessarily add up to financial benefit.
June 5, 2006... Byline: Alison O'Connell The government suggests that the latest pensions white paper delivers a better deal for women. How true is that? The white paper proposal reduces the number of qualifying years required for full basic state...

Opinion: Inside View - Reforms should be finalised ahead of plans for a NPSS.
June 5, 2006... Byline: Ian Farr The Association of Consulting Actuaries (ACA) will be making a detailed response to the government's white paper on pensions reform, Security in retirement: towards a new pensions system, ahead of the September 11...

Special Focus: Standard & Poors - Assessing strengths - Getting to grips with the sponsor covenant.
June 5, 2006... Understanding pension scheme sponsors has always been a part of a trustee's duty of care to their scheme, but since the Pensions Act 2004, the relationship between sponsor and trustee has risen to the fore. Armed with significant new...

Special Focus: Raising the bar.
June 5, 2006... Byline: Kevin O'Donnell The role of pension trustee has seen dramatic change in the past 12 months, and more change is on the way as trustees cope with rising demands. The changes detailed in the Pensions Act 2004 are beginning to...

Special Focus: Mastering the risks.
June 5, 2006... Byline: Richard Hall Taking account of the sponsor's covenant in funding plans is not only essential risk management, it is also a requirement of the Pension Regulator's guidelines for defined benefit (DB) funding. This involves a new way...

Special Focus: Company Profile - Standard & Poors.
June 5, 2006... Background Standard & Poor's is a global leader in risk assessment. It is one of the foremost providers of independent credit ratings, indices, and investment research. An essential part of the world's financial infrastructure, Standard &...

Special Focus: Sound Structures - Building tactical foundations for solid pension returns.
June 5, 2006... Byline: Gill Wadsworth Setting the right investment strategy is the key concern for the UK's pension fund trustees and it represents one of their toughest challenges. With a plethora of investment products on offer, choosing the right...

Special Focus: Seeking to diversify.
June 5, 2006... Byline: Pamela Atherton UK pension funds are switching to alternative investment strategies, although at a much slower rate than their European counterparts, according to a recent study by Mercer Investment Consulting of European pension...

Special Focus: Tactical manoeuvres.
June 5, 2006... Byline: Steve Cleal The history of asset allocation is littered with episodes of missed opportunity and neglect. For much of the 1980s and 1990s, many institutional investors bought into the 'cult of the equity', taking a largely passive...

Special Focus: Setting pension funds free.
June 5, 2006... Byline: John Harrison Asset allocation has two quite distinct roles for pension funds - strategic and tactical. Strategic asset allocation determines in which asset classes and in what proportions the pension fund should invest, taking...

Special Focus: Company Profile - UBS Global Asset Management.
June 5, 2006... Background UBS Global Asset Management is one of the three business groups of UBS, the other two being Global Wealth Management & Business Banking and the Investment Bank. With invested assets of approximately GBP1.2trn, UBS is one of the...

Special Focus: Company Profile - Morley Fund Management.
June 5, 2006... Background Morley Fund Management is the independently managed UK-based asset management business of Aviva, one of the world's largest financial services groups. Investment firms within Morley Fund Management Group manage GBP156.8bn from...

People on the Move: MLIM brings in Ryall and Davies as team directors.
June 5, 2006... Byline: Christine Senior Merrill Lynch Investment Managers (MLIM) has appointed Matthew Ryall and Gareth Davies as directors of its real estate research and relationship management teams, respectively. Based in London, Davies will be...

People on the Move: Keys moves up in L&C restructure.
June 5, 2006... In a restructure of its property team, London & Capital has promoted Iain Keys to head of the real estate division. Phillip Kennedy becomes investment appraisal specialist and Carl Minter becomes asset manager. A further four appointments...

People on the Move: Henderson boosts institutional.
June 5, 2006... Henderson Global Investors has appointed an associate director and three directors in a bid to boost its institutional business. Melanie Knorr takes up the newly-created role of associate director of institutional business, based in...

People on the Move: Lorkins to head up Barings team.
June 5, 2006... Kevin Lorkins is joining Baring Asset Management as head of sterling fixed income. Based in London, he will report to Marino Valensise, head of fixed income and currency, and will be responsible for setting strategy and developing products...

People on the Move: Bryant takes flexible benefits role at JLT.
June 5, 2006... Jardine Lloyd Thompson (JLT) has appointed Jon Bryant as head of flexible benefits. He joins from specialist benefit consultancy Risk & Reward Group. Paul Clark, regional managing director at JLT, said: "He joins the team at an...

People on the Move: Smith wins Inalytics top research post.
June 5, 2006... Inalytics has appointed Malcolm Smith as of head of research to take charge of new product development. He was previously global head of performance measurement at ABN Amro Asset Management. Rick Di Mascio, chief executive and founder...

News: Ministers mislead over FAS payments.
June 12, 2006... Byline: Daniel McAllister The government has deliberately fudged its figures by over GBP1bn for the Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS) slashing the cost of compensation for victims of scheme collapse by more than a third. Ministers...

News: Government seeks industry's help in reducing red tape.
June 12, 2006... The government has called on the pensions industry to help eradicate superfluous regulation and ensure the success of pensions reform. Speaking at the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) annual conference last week, secretary of...

NAPF Conference News: PPF chief backs buyout market in review of first year's success.
June 12, 2006... Byline: Hannah Williams The chairman of the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) has voiced his support for the burgeoning buyout market. Lawrence Churchill told PW: "We welcome the buyout market very strongly. From both large companies and...

NAPF Conference News: Companies look to review scheme rules as final salary contribution rates reach 6%.
June 12, 2006... Employee contribution rates to final salary schemes will hit 6% in the next two years as employers battle to contain escalating pension costs. Research from Watson Wyatt found members contribute an average of 5.3% of their salary to...

NAPF Conference News: Parties clash over white paper.
June 12, 2006... Byline: Hannah Williams The claws were out at the National Association of Pension Funds' (NAPF) annual conference as opposition MPs from the three leading parties met to discuss the recommendations and consequences of the white paper on...

NAPF Conference News: Laws says pensions quango can go.
June 12, 2006... MPs' hopes for the government to set up a quango to review its planned pension reforms were dashed by the work and pensions secretary. Speaking at the National Association of Pension Funds' (NAPF) annual conference last week, Lib Dem...

NAPF Conference News: L&G suggests retirement planning restructure.
June 12, 2006... Legal & General pensions strategy director, Adrian Boulding, has called for a new way of viewing the concept of retirement. Speaking at the National Association of Pension Funds' conference on Thursday, Boulding said: "Retirement is too...

NAPF Conference News: Increased regs will force companies to opt for buyouts.
June 12, 2006... The buyout market will grow rapidly according to Paternoster chairman Mark Wood. Speaking at the National Association of Pension Funds' (NAPF) conference, the boss of the buyout company said the increasing pressures on both company...

NAPF Conference News: NAPF aids workers with Pensionsforce.
June 12, 2006... A free independent service has been launched to help people at work get to grips with pensions. The NAPF initiative - Pensionsforce, hopes to raise the awareness of workers about the options available to them through a series of sessions...

News: Trustees defend their position.
June 12, 2006... Byline: Gill Wadsworth Professional trustees have refuted claims their presence on trustee boards encourages complacency and jeopardises pension scheme governance. Responding to findings from a trustee forum held by Aon Consulting,...

News: Letters.
June 12, 2006... Time to refocus efforts on the people most in need Does the government truly believe that proposals by the Pensions Commission to raise the age of retirement will resolve the pensions crisis? Paying into a pension fund for longer is fine...

News: Bfinance charges clarification.
June 12, 2006... In the article 'Bfinance charges rile popular LA providers' (PW 22.05.06), Pensions Week printed a quote which stated: "With bfinance, managers 'pay to play' and fees get charged back to the client." Bfinance has contacted Pensions Week to...

News: New face beats big names to ASW annuity mandates.
June 12, 2006... Byline: Gill Wadsworth Members of the troubled Allied Steel & Wire (ASW) pension schemes will receive secure retirement benefits from a new pretender to the annuity market. Wesleyan Assurance Society has pipped established annuity...

News: Aberdeen commercial property spree.
June 12, 2006... Aberdeen City Council pension fund has diversified its property allocation with a string of commercial acquisitions. Using existing property manager Arlington Securities, Aberdeen has bought retail properties in Harrow, Exeter, Carlisle and...

News: JPMorgan takes over BNY's share of Royal Mail.
June 12, 2006... Royal Mail has appointed JPMorgan as the sole global custodian of its GBP22bn assets. The deal sees JPMorgan Worldwide Securities Services snatch Bank of New York's (BNY) GBP2.2bn holding. The move comes after reports of a huge...

News: Standard Life wins Redbridge mandate.
June 12, 2006... Standard Life has been selected to manage a GBP95m bond portfolio for the London Borough of Redbridge. Chris Morawiecki, investment director for UK local authorities at Standard Life Investments, said the firm had attracted a number of...

News: Pensions to fight agricultural crisis.
June 12, 2006... Pensions will be used to incentivise workers into the agricultural sector prompted by a serious skills shortage. Following the agreement to create an industry-wide pension scheme for agricultural workers last year, unions are calling on the...

News: Covenant to replace liability as fund driver.
June 12, 2006... Byline: Daniel McAllister Forget liability-driven investment (LDI), covenant-driven investment (CDI) is the latest way for employers to tackle their pension fund burden, according to pensions consultants. Matching assets to...

News: Left Field - Labour isn't working.
June 12, 2006... Byline: Frank Field The pension proposals outlined by the government are not worth the paper they are written on. The proposals don't stack up and, even by the time this column is read, most people will have forgotten what the proposals...

News: Group funds slip back after earlier gains.
June 12, 2006... Group pension managed funds have experienced a significant fall after initial first quarter growth and flat returns, a survey found. The average managed fund return was -4.2%, eroding much of the gains made earlier in the year and bringing...

News: Specialist consultants winning business.
June 12, 2006... Byline: Ryan Harrison UK pension schemes with ambitions in alternative assets are shunning traditional consultants, a survey revealed. Pension schemes are increasingly diversifying into alternative assets and more are choosing...

News: Board members still making a profit despite DB decline.
June 12, 2006... Board members of large UK corporations have continued to gain from final salary pension plans despite rapid decline in defined benefit (DB) pensions for their employees, a survey showed. Nearly half of senior executives in large UK...

News: Paternoster appoints three directors.
June 12, 2006... Defined benefit (DB) buyout company Paternoster has recruited three directors to the fledgling firm. The life assurance company, run by ex-Prudential boss Mark Wood and launched in April to offer companies a way of shedding their DB...

News: White paper wins support from Turner.
June 12, 2006... Byline: Daniel McAllister The architect of UK pension reform gave his endorsement to the government's white paper last week. Pensions Commission chairman Lord Turner, whose three-year report was broadly adopted by the government in its...

News: Commodities are a good bet.
June 12, 2006... Commodities will become a long-term performer for investors, holding as much prominence as hedge funds or small-cap Japanese equities, says Credit Suisse. Senior strategist Philipp Vorndran says investors should see the decision as...

News: NAPF Notice Board.
June 12, 2006... White paper seminar June 21, NAPF London Newly appointed pensions minister James Purnell joins leading industry figures to set out and discuss what the government's pensions reform white paper says. The National Association of Pension...

News: Ombudsman Watch.
June 12, 2006... VARIETY I was hoping to make this a fluvial ombudsman watch. This year the NAPF conference is at Excel in Docklands and the Thames Clipper catamaran goes from London Bridge pier to Docklands in 11 minutes. I thought a trip by commuter...

Opinion: Leader - Compensation costs? Don't ask the government.
June 12, 2006... Byline: Gill Wadsworth Just how much will it cost to compensate those who lost their pensions when their companies went bust? This is the GBP15bn question, or perhaps it's the GBP2.9bn question. That really depends on whom you ask, or when...

Opinion: Personal View - Observe the balance between equities and liabilities.
June 12, 2006... Byline: Dominic Delaforce 2006 has been a fascinating case study for those who follow swings in market sentiment. Predominantly, pension fund trustees focus their attention on the equity markets. For most schemes, that represents the...

Opinion: Inside View - Investigating the physics of employee auto- enrolment.
June 12, 2006... Our understanding of gravity and inertia are two things for which we have Isaac Newton to thank; although as far as I know, he had no particular views on the likely effect of inertia on membership patterns of pensions in the 21st century. ...

Campaign for Pensions Justice: Reporting the reality behind the headlines.
June 12, 2006... Scotia pension scheme member "I contributed to the Scotia scheme for 20 years and two months. I left the firm in October 1999 and the scheme commenced wind-up in August 2001. The scheme was fully funded in April 2000 to 85% on the minimum...

Governance Watch: Aegis says Bollore to conflicting board appointments.
June 12, 2006... At the forthcoming annual general meeting (AGM) of the media group Aegis, to be held on the June 14, a major shareholder, Groupe Bollore, controlled by Vincent Bollore, has proposed two shareholder resolutions. Groupe Bollore is proposing the...

Spotlight: The perfect blueprint.
June 12, 2006... Byline: Roger Urwin As companies continue to navigate from defined benefit (DB) to defined contribution (DC) pension arrangements, it is becoming clear that many do not have the right structures in place to meet their goals. New thinking...

People on the Move: Insight brings in ex-F&C manager.
June 12, 2006... Byline: Hannah Williams Insight Investment has appointed Mike Willis as UK small-cap fund manager to strengthen its UK equities desk. A further change within the company sees Abdallah Nauphal widen his role as chief investment officer...