Pensions Week articles from March 2007

Pensions Week archives from March 2007

News: Tax payers face bill for revamped LGPS.
March 5, 2007... Byline: Ryan Harrison Council tax payers could be forced to pick up the bill for sweeping changes to local authority pension regulations, public scheme managers claimed. The government's draft regulations on the new-look Local...

News: Schroders offsets GBP8bn loss against 31% rise in fees.
March 5, 2007... A 31% hike in asset management fees softened the impact of an GBP8bn institutional investor exodus at Schroders last year, the fund manager's annual results revealed. Despite the dramatic outflow of pension fund clients in 2006, Schroders...

News: Hewitt wins LTSB pension contract.
March 5, 2007... Hewitt Associates has been appointed to provide consulting advice to Lloyds TSB on its eight UK group pension schemes. Hewitt will advise on risk and governance issues for the firm's 180,000 scheme members with liabilities totalling...

News: Lack of voting disclosure could lead to mandatory regulations.
March 5, 2007... Byline: Hannah Williams Institutional investors are ignoring government recommendations on shareholder voting disclosure, which could see stringent corporate governance legislation enforced. Figures from consultancy agency PIRC found...

News: Funds back fight against Novartis patent case.
March 5, 2007... Pension funds have thrown their GBP1.7trn weight behind a responsible investment campaign to stop pharmaceutical companies pricing medicines beyond the reach of the world's poor. Oxfam and investment campaign group FairPensions have...

News: UK's security providers turn up the heat.
March 5, 2007... Byline: Ryan Harrison A flurry of local authority custody mandate wins has intensified competition among the top security providers in the UK. Rivalry in the GBP1.5trn UK pension custody market heated up as State Street, JPMorgan and...

News: Victorious vicars retain their DB plans.
March 5, 2007... Nine thousand vicars will retain their defined benefit pension plans following negotiations with the Church of England. The general synod has rubber stamped plans to extend the number of qualifying years needed to pick up a pension from 37...

News: Britons 'earliest planners' when it comes to pensions.
March 5, 2007... Young Britons are planning for retirement before any other nation in the world, research showed. A study by Axa found UK savers started making plans for their financial future at age 28, ahead of European, Australian and US youngsters. ...

News: JLT acquires large broadcasting mandate.
March 5, 2007... Jardine Lloyd Thompson (JLT) has capitalised on Scottish Life's exit from the UK pensions administration market by snapping up a mandate with a broadcasting house. ITV Scheme Trustee has appointed JLT Benefit Solutions to run its defined...

News: Opacity aids hedge fund returns.
March 5, 2007... Byline: Ryan Harrison The merits of total hedge fund transparency have been brought into question despite a swathe of allocations to the alternative asset class from UK pension funds. The number of hedge funds publishing their...

News: RU64 rule to stay as FSA is labelled inconsistent.
March 5, 2007... The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has labelled the Financial Services Authority's (FSA) decision to keep the so-called RU64 rule as "inconsistent with the drive towards a principles-based regulatory regime". RU64 requires advisers...

News: Letters.(Letter to the editor)
March 5, 2007... A WEARER OF TWO HATS Not for the first time, your news item 'Disquiet over mortality models' (PW 12.02.07) prompts me to ask whether I can sit comfortably under two hats; an actuary in my day job and a member-nominated director when...

News: Harrow goes for private equity.
March 5, 2007... Byline: Hannah Williams A London local authority pension fund has joined the public sector push into private equity with a GBP35m mandate, despite the latest industry anxieties about risk and fees. The GBP500m Harrow council scheme has...

News: Deadline for FAS submissions is extended to August.
March 5, 2007... The UK government has extended the deadline for pension funds of insolvent firms to submit their qualification for the Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS) to the end of August. The Department for Work and Pensions said it extended the...

News: Uniliever shuts DB scheme to joiners.
March 5, 2007... The multi-billion pound Unilever final salary pension fund is the latest FTSE 100 company to close its doors to new members. The company will instead offer a career-average scheme for employees who earn less than GBP35k. Those above the...

News: Indesit hires HSBC to run schemes across the board.
March 5, 2007... Indesit Company has appointed HSBC Actuaries and Consultants to run its entire pension arrangements for 5,400 members. Indesit, the company behind Cannon, Hotpoint and Creda, said HSBC's consulting arm would take care of numerous schemes...

News: Schemes could lose out by scorning UK property.
March 5, 2007... Byline: Gill Wadsworth Pension funds ditching the UK property market for a globally diversified approach could be costing their schemes vital returns, say fund managers. RREEF, a property and infrastructure specialist division of...

News: Debate - Once bitten, twice shy.
March 5, 2007... Byline: Kevin O'Donnell The personal account needs the workplace but does the workplace need, or more accurately want, the personal account? To be more precise, do employers want to take the mis-selling risks involved in offering...

News: Investec latest to offer balanced fund.
March 5, 2007... Investec has launched a balanced managed fund targeting the pensions market. The fund will invest 65% in equities - 20% in the FTSE All Share, 45% in the MSCI world index, and 35% in bonds. As it is balanced managed, maximum equity...

News: Deficits up GBP11bn after FTSE crash.
March 5, 2007... Byline: William Comet UK pension deficits registered their biggest one-day increase for nearly six years last week because of stock market losses, say consultants. The combined deficits of the 200 largest UK pension schemes,...

News: IFAs show great interest in family pension trusts.
March 5, 2007... Independent financial advisers (IFAs) are scrambling to take advantage of the tax breaks of buying commercial property through family pension trusts for their clients, a provider said. Rowanmoor Pensions, a small self-administered scheme...

News: Standard presents 'best ideas' fund to seek alpha returns.
March 5, 2007... Standard Asset Management has launched an emerging markets bond fund, following a restruct-ure of the group's product range. Managed by recent recruit Kevin Colglazier, the fund is a 'best ideas' hedge fund investing in corporate and...

News: Contingent assets use to double.
March 5, 2007... Byline: Hannah Williams The use of contingent assets to fund pension schemes is set to double in the next two years, consultants predicted. PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) said the number of UK companies looking to implement this...

Campaign for Pensions Justice: Reporting the reality behind the headlines.
March 5, 2007... Scheme member A "I am a 62-year-old victim of the government's pension robbery. I worked at the same firm for 34 years and began paying into my pension fund from the start. At the time, it was 'no pension, no job', but I was happy to...

News: NAPF Notice Board.
March 5, 2007... NAPF training and seminars Occupational pension schemes are complex financial institutions, which 17 million people rely on for their security in later life. Running these institutions is vital and a huge responsibility for trustees, whose...

News: Ombudsman Watch.
March 5, 2007... Long term Pensions, if it's about anything, is about planning for the long term. Contrast Harold Wilson's aphorism that "a week is a long time in politics". Despite (or perhaps because of) having a maths teacher for a father and, for a...

Governance Watch: Domino's run of independent boards comes to an end.
March 5, 2007... Domino Printing Sciences will be holding its annual general meeting (AGM) on March 22, 2007. The company has taken some steps to improve its corporate governance arrangements and in advance of the AGM, the company appointed Sir Mark Wrightson...

Spotlight: Time is money.
March 5, 2007... Byline: Kevin Burgess On December 21, 2006, the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) announced it hoped to collect GBP675m in levies for 2007/2008, more than double the amount they will collect for 2006/2007. With Christmas just days away at the...

Opinion: Leader - When will pension schemes get the message?
March 5, 2007... Byline: Gill Wadsworth I am not sure if this makes me a terribly sad individual, but I have always been interested in contingent assets. The idea of being able to financially support your pension fund without watching your company's...

Opinion: Personal View - Is there a downturn on the horizon for the market's healthy outlook?(Industry overview)
March 5, 2007... Byline: Max King With the bull market approaching its fourth anniversary, investors are starting to worry about the next market downturn. The corrections in the last four years were brief and modest, but no one has forgotten the last bear...

Opinion: Inside View - How best to take advantage of climate change trends.
March 5, 2007... Byline: Vicki Bakhshi The start of 2007 has seen climate change take centre stage once again. At Davos, home of the world economic forum, the level of business interest in the issue was unprecedented, while another stark reminder of the...

Special Focus: Driving Development - Introduction.
March 5, 2007... Byline: Gill Wadsworth, editor Multi-management has been a staple of the UK pension fund market for some time, but the concept refuses to remain static. In the face of criticism for some underperformance and as new entrants arrive on...

Special Focus: A changing scene.
March 5, 2007... Byline: Ceri Jones The multi-manager market has moved on a long way from the 1990s when it was primarily about best-of-breed equity managers. Today the concept has broadened out to embrace alternative asset classes, risk analysis and a...

Special Focus: Finding a solution.
March 5, 2007... Byline: Ian Barnes I've recently had my house decorated, and the firm that did it for me was called Wall Solutions. Now, perhaps I'm just getting cynical, but it seems that helping with the choice of either paint or wallpaper cannot really...

Special Focus: A tale of two strategies.
March 5, 2007... Byline: Tony Earnshaw Traditionally, manager-of-manager solut-ions have been focused on two separate, self-contained areas; long-only and alternatives. Long-only solutions for the pensions world have tended to be style-neutral, single...

Company Profile: Russel.(Company overview)
March 5, 2007... Background Russell is a global financial services company with clients in over 44 countries. Russell, which is wholly owned by Northwestern Mutual, established its London office in 1979. Offices were opened in Paris (1994), Amsterdam...

Company Profile: Northern Trust.(Company overview)
March 5, 2007... Background Northern Trust was founded as a trust company for affluent individuals and successful businesses in Chicago in 1889. Since then, it has grown to become one of the world's leading providers of asset management, asset servicing...

People on the Move: NTGI enhances product team with high profile trio.
March 5, 2007... Byline: William Comet Northern Trust Global Investments (NTGI), the asset manager, has "expanded and enhanced" its international product management team with three appointments in London. NTGI, part of the Chicago-based Northern Trust...

People on the Move: LaSalle moves in to Asia-Pacific region with Ling.
March 5, 2007... LaSalle Investment Management has appointed Philip Ling as managing director in its Asia-Pacific business as part of the company's plans for the region. Based in Singapore, Ling will be responsible for developing LaSalle's overall...

People on the Move: LCP bolsters team as good results continue.
March 5, 2007... Lane Clark & Peacock (LCP) continues its consultancy expansion with the appointment of David Bush as partner in its London actuarial team. The group has been swelling its ranks over the past six months, citing a stream of good business,...

People on the Move: Wey Woon to revitalise Morley's urban spirit.
March 5, 2007... Morley is hoping to spruce up its urban regeneration by hiring Hoong Wey Woon as fund manager. He is a replacement for Douglas Crawshaw, who moved over to the company's tri-investments European property fund, following significant growth...

People on the Move: Axa Tinkers with global equity product.
March 5, 2007... Axa Framlington has drafted in Mark Tinker as a portfolio manager to develop its new global equity product. Tinker steps in to oversee the launch of the firm's global long-short fund, which adopts a top-down investment approach. He joins...

News: Scottish fire services face deficit emergency.
March 12, 2007... Byline: William Comet Scotland's emergency fire and rescue services could run out of cash because of the burgeoning GBP1.8bn deficit in their pension schemes, Audit Scotland (AS) claimed. The independent body, in a report prepared for...

News: DWP could still appeal case despite early day motions.
March 12, 2007... The government has continued its refusal to rule out an appeal against last month's maladministration ruling in the High Court despite mounting pressure from MPs. One hundred and twenty-five MPs have signed the latest early day motion...

News: Billions in unclaimed assets could take years to recover.
March 12, 2007... Byline: Gill Wadsworth Campaigners fighting for the release of unclaimed assets to pay the lost pensions of 125,000 scheme members could be in for a long wait, industry insiders warned. Last week, Labour MP Frank Field tabled a...

News: Pensions Bill is no silver bullet for savers.
March 12, 2007... The Pensions Bill is not a panacea for security in retirement but does offer some hope for society's disadva ntaged, key industry figures told government last week. Speaking at the Westminster pensions briefing, Christina Barnes, pensions...

News: EC faces million pound VAT bill.
March 12, 2007... Byline: William Comet Britain's pension funds should consider European Court action to reclaim hundreds of millions of pounds in VAT, according to a tax specialist. Richard Iferenta, financial services tax partner at accountant KPMG,...

News: Chinese investors to benefit from LAPFF guidance.
March 12, 2007... Pension funds investing in Chinese companies can monitor their fund managers' engagement with company labour standards, following the publication of public sector guidance. The Local Authority Pension Fund Forum (LAPFF) launched best...

News: MoD ruling for Gurkhas a 'sham'.
March 12, 2007... The Ministry of Defence (MoD) ruling on Gurkha pensions has been labelled a sham by ex-servicemen, who will be denied benefit improvements despite more than 30 years' service. Serving Gurkhas or those retiring after July 7, 1997 have been...

News: Questions from consultants over watchdog merger.
March 12, 2007... A consultation paper commissioned by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has questioned whether the Pensions Regulator and the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) should be merged into one body. Following his January review of pensions...

News: Private equity rulings force clarity.
March 12, 2007... Byline: Hannah Williams The veil of secrecy surrounding private equity investment could be lifted following government rulings on public sector pension disclosures. Lawyers predicted the recent judgments by the information...

News: HBOS slashes its deficit with no impact to members.
March 12, 2007... The HBOS pension scheme has more than halved its deficit over the last two years while avoiding increases to member contributions. The GBP6.2bn scheme ploughed GBP1.15bn into the fund since 2005, reducing the deficit to GBP900m on an IAS 19...

News: Unions' concern over AA equity spend.
March 12, 2007... The Automobile Association (AA) is ploughing GBP50m into private equity mandates despite concerns from unions representing company employees. The motoring giant has allocated 2.5% of its GBP1.8bn scheme to a European fund managed by...

News: Mellon tops key custody tables.
March 12, 2007... Byline: Ryan Harrison Mellon Group has demolished its competitors in a key custody ranking table, ahead of a merger later this year, that would make it a GBP8.6trn colossus in the global securities market. Mellon came second in the R&M...

News: Professionals passed over in favour of MNTs.
March 12, 2007... Independent trustees' positions on pension boards could be at the mercy of a membership vote, following changes in regulation. The 2004 Pensions Act stated member-nominated trustees (MNTs) must make up a third of pension committees, forcing...

News: Devon Council fund to tidy up custodians.
March 12, 2007... The GBP2.1bn Devon County Council pension fund is to review current custodians JPMorgan and State Street with a view to appointing a single custodian going forward. The fund said there were no major concerns about the operation of either...

News: Group managed funds hit after market drops.
March 12, 2007... Group pension managed fund returns for February nose-dived in wake of the stock market fall at the end of the month. Despite an initial rise in stock markets, the equity markets were shocked when the Shanghai stock market plummeted by over...

News: Admin firm cashes in on decreased sector competition.
March 12, 2007... Michael Kirk & Partners is the latest pension administrator to capitalise on Scottish Life's exit from the market. Harris & Bailey, a building and plumber's merchant, has appointed Michael Kirk to run the back office for its entire GBP2.6m...

News: Sting in the Tale - When NPSS hits the fan.
March 12, 2007... Byline: Steve Bee I have been thinking about the problems likely to face the two million problem people who are expected to be auto-enrolled into the national pension savings scheme against their will when it starts up in 2012.If you...

News: Public schemes question proposals for the LGPS.
March 12, 2007... Byline: Ryan Harrison Local authorities have rained on the Unison victory parade over changes to the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS), warning the regulations would hit taxpayers and low paid workers. Unison claimed negotiations...

News: First State backs responsible practices.
March 12, 2007... First State Investments has become the latest fund manager to sign up to the UN's principles of responsible investment. The voluntary programme, promoting best practice in environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues, now boasts a...

News: Cap free contributions to PAs.
March 12, 2007... Byline: Gill Wadsworth The government is considering cap-free contributions to personal accounts as employee payment levels continue to dominate the parliamentary select committee inquiry. The Department for Work & Pensions (DWP) will...

News: Risk in pushing allowance limit say advisers.
March 12, 2007... High earners making pension contributions close to the limit of their lifetime allowance risk making a hugely expensive mistake, say advisers. Mick Calvert, head of executive financial planning at Watson Wyatt, said: "My fear is that some...

News: Government could rethink lifetime allowance rules.
March 12, 2007... A potential government rethink of rules governing the lifetime allowance has been welcomed by actuaries. The benefit crystallisation event three (BCE3) rules, heavily criticised for placing an administrative burden on occupational schemes,...

News: Experian launch lifespan liabilities predictor.
March 12, 2007... Plan sponsors battling with the longevity conundrum can access a tool designed to profile pension liabilities more accurately, consultants claimed. Experian, a provider of analytical and research services, has launched a longevity risk...

News: F&C launch GTAA access fund to key European markets.
March 12, 2007... F&C launched a new 200m investment fund offering balanced mandates and multi-asset portfolios access to returns generated purely by global tactical asset allocation (GTAA) decisions. Its GTAA alpha fund is expected to be registered in a...

News: Funds must make the Reit property choice.
March 12, 2007... Byline: Ryan Harrison Pension schemes could hamper their attempts at matching liabilities with property by investing in real estate investment trusts (Reits), consultants warned. Graham Dow, head of invest-ment development at Standard...

News: Actuarial debt calculations in doubt.
March 12, 2007... Actuaries could face a wave of legal challenges from companies disgruntled about pension debt allocation, say lawyers. Pensions law specialist Sacker & Partners warned that the growing uncertainty about who was responsible for pension...

News: Faith in pensions reform plummets over five years.
March 12, 2007... Confidence in government pension reform and its ability to create successful saving conditions has plummeted in the last five years, research showed. A study by MetLife, an insurer and financial services firm, showed two-thirds of UK...

News: LDI is still buzzing in 2007.
March 12, 2007... Liability-driven investment (LDI) has been labelled a buzzword by trustees and was chosen to sum up the pensions sphere in 2007. According to a straw poll of UK trustees by Abn Amro Asset Management, 12% of schemes see LDI as the hot topic...

News: LPFA hires James.
March 12, 2007... The GBP3.6bn London Pension Fund Authority has hired Vanessa James as investment director following the swift departure of Suzanne Ross. James joins the group from Abbey National Asset Managers, where she was global equity director and...

News: NAPF Notice Board - Forthcoming conferences from the NAPF.
March 12, 2007... The NAPF investment conference The leading pension fund investment conference in the UK will, this year, hold fundraising activities in support of Comic Relief's Red Nose Day '07. Over GBP14,000 has already been raised on behalf of Red...

Campaign for pensions justice: Reporting the reality behind the headlines.
March 12, 2007... Mr A, former Dexion worker "My retirement date would have been April 2005, but I had a break in service and when I rejoined the company it had raised the retirement age to 62. After working 16 years for the company, my pension would have...

News: Ombudsman Watch.
March 12, 2007... Byline: Norman Russell Alternative investments Two cases caught my attention this week. In both instances it was the name of the company involved in the case that caught my eye. The first was a High Court case brought by the Financial...

Spotlight: The future's unclear.
March 12, 2007... Byline: Guy Fraser-Sampson The BT pension fund was in the news a few months ago when it emerged its was using different longevity assumptions from its sister scheme, Royal Mail, perhaps by as much as two years' difference. According to The...

Governance Watch: Chemring defends the curse of the phantom options.
March 12, 2007... Chemring Group is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index and will be holdings its annual general meeting (AGM) on March 22, 2007. While the board structure of the company complies with the combined code, the company has taken the decision in...

Opinion: Leader - The need to thrive and survive.
March 12, 2007... Byline: Gill Wadsworth Many of PW's readers will be at the National Association of Pension Fund's (NAPF) investment conference this week which has emphasis on trustees' roles and responsibilities. One session that caught my eye was...

Opinion: Personal view - A general mood of optimism prevails for the year ahead.
March 12, 2007... Byline: Phil True Back in March 2006 it looked like returns from the first quarter would probably be the best for the year at +8.1%, and that equities were due for a quiet spell, albeit they were cheap enough to move higher on a 12-month...

Opinion: Inside view - Hunting investment opportunities with absolute returns.
March 12, 2007... Byline: Ken Adams Stock market investors during the 1990s would have deemed the concept of an absolute return fund as wholly unnecessary. Then, a healthy future return was considered a near certainty with traditional investment funds,...

People on the Move: Blair's banker joins Credit Suisse's management team.
March 12, 2007... Byline: William Comet Credit Suisse has moved to strengthen its management team by poaching Russell Chambers, Tony Blair's favourite banker, from Swiss rival UBS, to become UK chief executive. Chambers, one of Blair's regular tennis...

People on the Move: Property boost for Arlington as it strengthens team.
March 12, 2007... Arlington Securities has expanded its property fund management capacity with a brace of appointments. Nicola Willis becomes assistant fund manager and Helen Smith joins as a retail asset manager, bringing the total number of the firm's...

People on the Move: Walsh to head State Street's UKMEA.
March 12, 2007... Michael Walsh has been promoted to head State Street's investment services business in the UK, Middle East and Africa (UKMEA). Walsh previously managed State Street's servicing business in Scotland, which he headed from October 2005. ...

People on the Move: Cowman moves into Retirement from the Pru.
March 12, 2007... Annuity provider Just Retirement has taken a man from the Pru, signing ex- Prudential manager Paul Cowman, to spearhead its push into the protection market. Cowman joins as category manager and will be responsible for the firm's planning...

People on the Move: Building up partnerships with a trio for GO.
March 12, 2007... Governance for Owners (GO) has expanded its share owner advocacy partnership with a trio of hires. Investment analyst Marc Schartz has been signed up to help identify candidates for the GO European focus fund and was previously a portfolio...