Pensions Week articles from May 2005

Pensions Week archives from May 2005

News: Local authority faces employer revolt.
May 2, 2005... A London local authority scheme could be in danger of losing contracted employers following substantial hikes in its pension contributions. The GBP486m London Borough of Lewisham pension fund has been forced to raise employer contributions...

News: Bolding, Applegarth to serve on PMI board.
May 2, 2005... The Pensions Management Institute (PMI) has made two appointments to its council. Neil Bolding of Mercer Human Resource Consulting and Sue Applegarth of MNPA have both been elected to the 16-strong board. Brian Critchell, who served as...

News: Merseyside opts for State Street as global custodian.
May 2, 2005... The GBP3.2bn Merseyside pension fund has appointed State Street Corporation as its global custodian. State Street will provide custody, securities lending, cash management and foreign exchange services to the local authority scheme. ...

Election News: Government gets vote of no confidence on pension issues.
May 2, 2005... The majority (91%) of the British public has little or no faith in the government's ability to solve the pension crisis, according to stockbroker Brewin Dolphin. More than half of the UK population (57%) believed Labour has failed to...

Election News: No election-related volatility this time.
May 2, 2005... Past general elections have triggered volatility in the market-place, although this is not likely to be the case this time round. Research by Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP) showed that over the past 25 years, the UK equity...

News: PPF asked to bail out Rover's oe400m in pensions liabilities.
May 2, 2005... The government's Pension Protection Fund (PPF) faces a major challenge as Rover calls on the safety boat, following the collapse of the company last month. Trustees of the MG Rover pension scheme have applied for entry into the PPF,...

News: Nichols switches to active investment management.
May 2, 2005... Soft drinks company Nichols has ditched Legal & General Investment Management in favour of multi-manager Investment Solutions to run its GBP12m closed defined benefit (DB) pension scheme. The move forms part of the firm's decision to move...

News: Bramdean gets Irish OK for its pan-European investment funds.
May 2, 2005... Bramdean, the institutional multi-manager business formed by Nicola Horlick, has been given the go ahead by the Irish financial regulator for its pan- European investment funds. Bramdean, which was launched in January this year, will now...

News: FTSE AIM index targets smaller companies.
May 2, 2005... Index provider FTSE Group and the London Stock Exchange are to introduce a series of new indices for the alternative investment market (AIM), the exchange's international market for smaller, growing companies. The FTSE AIM index series...

News: Sutton tenders for global managers.
May 2, 2005... The GBP218m Sutton Council pension fund has put out to tender for two active managers for the global element of its scheme portfolio. PW understands the scheme currently uses Henderson Global Investors and Deutsche Asset Management for...

News: Met goes for Paymaster.
May 2, 2005... The Metropolitan Police has selected Paymaster to provide pension services. The scheme previously used Capita Hartshead for administration services. Paymaster will supply pension services in conjunction with LogicaCMG. LogicaCMG is...

News: UK equities outshine their foreign counterparts.
May 2, 2005... UK equities are now better for pension schemes than other developed countries' equities, according to Baring Asset Management (BAM). The fund manager said it has upgraded the UK to an overweight position due to its defensive qualities...

News: Companies feel the impact as FRS 17 becomes compulsory.
May 2, 2005... Stock market values for a large number of UK companies could be seriously affected by the appearance of pension shortfalls on balance sheets for the first time this year, experts warned. Although companies have had some time to come to...

News: SWIP adopts UCITS III requirements.
May 2, 2005... Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP) has adopted the undertakings for collective investments in transferable securities (UCITS) III requirements, which will open up its global liquidity fund to allow other funds to invest their surplus...

News: Standard Life joins with AFFS, Investment Solutions to create Sipp.
May 2, 2005... Alexander Forbes Financial Services (AFFS) has joined forces with Standard Life and Investment Solutions to launch a self-invested personal pension (Sipp). Standard Life will provide the Sipp while Investment Solutions will provide private...

News: Origen, Interactive Investor to offer direct online access to annuity service.
May 2, 2005... Financial services provider Origen has teamed up with Interactive Investor to provide customers with direct access to its online annuity service. The service will enable Interactive Investor's 1.5 million users to shop around and get...

News: Increased life expectancy spurs rise in amount of savings needed for retirement.
May 2, 2005... Increasing life expectancy and stagnant retirement age means that workers are faced with working longer or saving more to fund their retirement, research revealed. Research by Aon Consulting showed that the average retirement age has...

News: J Sainsbury increases its exposure to hedge funds.
May 2, 2005... The GBP3bn J Sainsbury pension fund has doubled its exposure to hedge fund-of- funds from 1.55% to 3.33% with two of its multi-managers, La Fayette and Financial Risk Management (FRM). It has awarded both an equal share of the additional...

News: TrinityCapM targets institutional investors with global hedge fund.
May 2, 2005... Global fixed income asset management firm, TrinityCapM, has set up its first hedge fund targeted at institutional investors. The global enhanced liquidity product has a target of 1% over the London inter-bank offered rate benchmark with...

News: Schroders adds six to its emerging markets team.
May 2, 2005... Schroder Investment Management has made a series of appointments to its emerging markets team following a number of departures. Schroders has appointed six members to the team, bringing the division up to 27. Those appointed are: Waj Hashmi...

News: Trustees still liable for poor decisions despite advice from Pensions Regulator.
May 2, 2005... Advice from the Pensions Regulator that trustees with a conflict of interest should avoid making key decisions is unlikely to protect them from liability claims, a commercial law firm warned. Trustees of occupational pension schemes who...

News: Don't miss this week's Trustee Masterclass.
May 2, 2005... This week's issue of PW comes with the latest educational card for pension scheme trustees, as part of the Trustee Masterclass joint initiative between PW and Merrill Lynch Investment Managers (MLIM). The Trustee Masterclass aims to help UK...

News: BGI poaches four in bid to expand its fixed income team.
May 2, 2005... Barclays Global Investors (BGI) has expanded its fixed income team to meet increasing demands from pension schemes interested in investing in hedge funds. BGI has poached four people to join its expanding fixed income department and...

News: Women need to take more interest in pensions.
May 2, 2005... A large number of women in the UK have little or no idea of what their income will be in retirement. Research by consultant Watson Wyatt showed that women take less interest in pension planning and their attitude differs to that of men. ...

News: Left field - Inheriting a crisis.
May 2, 2005... Within days, a new government will be elected. Labour has been lucky in keeping pensions off the agenda for much of the election campaign. They were helped in this respect by the sheer fantasy policy promoted by the Liberal Democrats. No party...

News: Unions warn of strike action over reduced pension benefits for Imerys workers.
May 2, 2005... Workers of French-owned materials company Imerys are set to protest at its AGM over cuts to their pensions this week (Tuesday). The workers are expected to lobby shareholders at the AGM in Paris over its labour relations record at the same...

News: Employers come under greater pressure to pay section 75 debts.
May 2, 2005... Companies are expected to come under greater pressure to comply with tougher pensions legislation following a landmark court ruling last month. The summary judgment against Newhaven Port & Properties (PW 25.4.05), which forced it to shell...

News: Ombudsman watch.
May 2, 2005... Secret Journeying on the Northern line last week, I thought I was getting more sideways glances from my fellow travellers than usual, as I read a document bearing the seal of the attorney general marked "SECRET", and addressed to the...

News: BAM: careful stock and sector selection vital to good equity returns.
May 2, 2005... The UK equity market still has the potential to offer attractive returns, but careful stock and sector selections are vital, Baring Asset Management (BAM) said. BAM expected the most attractive opportunities for income and growth to come...

News: Hiring levels expected to increase among City firms.
May 2, 2005... Recruitment in City firms is expected to escalate this year, according to a financial services recruitment firm. Research by Morgan McKinley found that 64% of City firms expected recruitment activity to increase by 20%. The key areas of...

News: NAPF notice board.
May 2, 2005... NAPF annual conference and exhibition A good deal of attention has been focused on the role of pension scheme trustees in recent months, and the NAPF has established itself as a provider of information and training services for trustees....

News: Government clarification on inner workings of PPF needed.
May 2, 2005... The government has not been wholly open about how the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) will work, according to Terry Faulkner, chairman of the National Association of Pension Funds. Faulkner said claims that the PPF will protect pensions in...

News: Prudential: cost of living high in retirement.
May 2, 2005... Retirement is the most expensive part of life, financial services group Prudential claimed. In its report - Cost of Living - Prudential said as people are living longer in retirement, this period has become doubly expensive, in terms of...

News: Asset.tv to cover institutional investor issues.
May 2, 2005... Investment industry TV channel Asset.tv has expanded its service to cater for institutional investors. The institutional channel will cover topical pension issues, institutional products, hedge funds, pooled funds and industry news. ...

News: Events.
May 2, 2005... - Trustee, plan sponsor seminar Employee benefits firm Gissings is hosting a free seminar looking at the Morris and Myners reviews, as well as scheme-specific funding. The seminar, aimed at trustee and plan sponsors, will take place on...

Governance Update: Overcommitted chairmen get negative vote.
May 2, 2005... Analysts at RREV use the National Association of Pension Funds' (NAPF) corporate governance policy as a flexible framework on which to base their assessments of company practice. This policy is fully supportive of the combined code and RREV...

Focus on: Inalytics - Delving into the behavioural finance arena.
May 2, 2005... How and when was Inalytics formed? Rick Di Mascio formed Inalytics in 1997 after leaving Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM). Prior to working for GSAM, Di Mascio was chief executive and chief investment officer of CINMan, the in-house...

Opinion: Leader - Time to jump out of the pensions crisis pan.
May 2, 2005... They say that if you put a frog into a pan of cold water and turn up the heat, it won't jump out, but will stay in the water until it is too late. The point is that the frog doesn't realise what is happening and so doesn't save itself while it...

Opinion: Personal view - The rise of electronic proxy voting.
May 2, 2005... As fund managers strive to meet their fiduciary duty, a barrier to ensuring the companies they invest in are properly run has been a fragmented, inefficient, proxy voting chain. In January 2004, Paul Myners highlighted that the historic...

Opinion: Inside view - No such thing as a free CDO lunch.
May 2, 2005... The collateralised debt obligation (CDO) market is one of the fastest growing areas of the corporate bond market. This rapid expansion has undoubtedly contributed to the bubble in the credit market, but may also be one of the driving factors in...

People on the move: Eaton makes the grade as UK equity fund manager at Insight.
May 2, 2005... Insight Investment, part of the HBOS group, has appointed Stuart Eaton as a fund manager in its core UK equity team. Eaton was most recently director of investment management, specialist benchmark funds at Newton Investment Management,...

People on the move: Wombwell head of UK distribution at SWIP.
May 2, 2005... Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP) has appointed Simon Wombwell as head of UK distribution. Wombwell will have overall responsibility for sales and client management in the institutional and wholesale businesses in the UK. ...

People on the move: Santamaria rises to managing director post at BIAM.
May 2, 2005... Bank of Ireland Asset Management (BIAM) has appointed Olivier Santamaria as managing director. Santamaria, who is acting head of BIAM's UK business, has been a senior member of BIAM's Irish institutional business for the last five years,...

News Just In... : GSK urges new thinking on retirement savings.
May 2, 2005... Employers need to undertake a major rethink on how they help staff with their retirement savings, according to one of the UK's largest pensions funds. Rob Collinge, senior vice-president, benefits, at GlaxoSmith-Kline (GSK) said existing...

News Just In... : Aon chooses Friends for DC admin.
May 2, 2005... Aon Consulting has selected Friends Provident to provide bespoke defined contribution (DC) scheme administration. Under the agreement, Friends will be one of two providers offering bespoke products as part of Aon's new pension proposition...

News Just In... : NHS, unions present united front on public sector pensions.
May 2, 2005... Thousands of NHS workers have voiced their opinions over government proposals to change public sector pension schemes. The 4,500 responses to the NHS pension review consultation are being collated so that a united front between NHS...

News: Simplification demands end LGIM's DC admin business.
May 9, 2005... Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM) has pulled out of the defined contribution (DC) administration business after it failed to meet the demands of simplification. The fund manager said it was unable to cope with the requirements,...

News: BT seeks to increase its hedge fund exposure with oe400m investment.
May 9, 2005... The GBP30bn BT pension plan, the UK's largest scheme, is in search for appropriate hedge fund vehicles in which to invest GBP400m of its scheme's assets. The scheme originally took the decision to invest in hedge funds late last year and...

News: Pearson poaches group pensions manager from BT.
May 9, 2005... The GBP1bn Pearson Group scheme has poached the former group pensions manager from the British Telecom (BT) fund. Annette Scott joined the Pearson scheme last week as group pensions manager. Scott has taken over from Pam Jenkins, who...

News: Employers missing key opportunities to communicate A-day changes.
May 9, 2005... Employers are failing to capitalise on opportunities to reduce long-term pension costs and to communicate with members in the run-up to A-day, research has revealed. A Paymaster survey of 30 well-known companies found that two-thirds (67%)...

News: Aspen employees own 100% of company shares.
May 9, 2005... Actuary and pension consultant Aspen has purchased all the shares held by its only external shareholder. The firm is now wholly owned by 13 of its employees. The shares were purchased from private equity house Gresham Trust. Gresham...

News: Friends Provident adds Activ Consensus fund to its offering.
May 9, 2005... Financial services group Friends Provident has introduced an active/passive packaged fund aimed at defined contribution (DC) scheme members. The fund - Activ Consensus - was launched following demands from employee benefits consultants and...

Election news: Labour's reduced majority could hamper pensions reform.
May 9, 2005... The new government's room for manoeuvre in implementing pensions reform could be limited by its sharply reduced parliamentary majority, industry experts warned. During the election campaign Labour said it would debate the issue of pensions...

Election news: St James's Place switches to Schroders.
May 9, 2005... Financial services group St James's Place has ditched Liontrust Asset Management following poor performance. St James's Place has replaced Liontrust with Schroder Investment Management to manage its GBP400m specialist UK equities mandate....

Election news: Stena ships oe30m mandate to Kas Bank.
May 9, 2005... International transport and travel service company Stena Line has appointed Kas Bank to manage a GBP30m custody mandate for its pension fund. The Dutch bank will provide custody and investment accounting services to Stena Line's global...

Election news: Action Group member takes votes from Brown.
May 9, 2005... A grandmother snatched 44 votes from the chancellor in the general election, standing for the single issue of compensating workers' pensions. Pat Sargent, a member of the Dexion pension scheme and the Pensions Action Group, made a stand...

News: Scottish Power to give 20% jolt to bond portfolio.
May 9, 2005... The GBP1.5bn Scottish Power pension scheme is to increase its bond portfolio by 20% following an asset/ liability study. The scheme has put out to tender for a GBP240m bond mandate after it decided to increase its bond portfolio from 30% to...

News: Winterthur offers remote control Sipp.
May 9, 2005... Winterthur Life has introduced a flexible self-invested personal pension plan (Sipp) with remote control access. The Sipp, which will be easy to adapt when A-day rules apply from 6 April 2006, will be available through independent financial...

News: Letters - Address the complexity of the state system first.(Letter to the Editor)
May 9, 2005... David Harris's comments (PW 25.4.05) that "if tax incentives fail, it's the last chance saloon and the last drink for the voluntary system" make a great soundbite. But the truth, as is often the case, is considerably more complex. There is...

News: Letters - Financially sustainable reform.(Letter to the Editor)
May 9, 2005... I am writing in response to an article in PW on 14.3.05, which inaccurately describes me as 'slamming' the citizen's pension. My comments about the citizen's pension were taken completely out of context, implying that I am opposed to the...

News: Don't miss this week's Trustee Masterclass.
May 9, 2005... This week's issue of PW comes with the latest educational card for pension scheme trustees, as part of the Trustee Masterclass joint initiative between PW and Merrill Lynch Investment Managers (MLIM). The Trustee Masterclass aims to help UK...

News: PI wins global equities mandate from Irish Life.
May 9, 2005... Dublin-based PI Investment Management, the global equities manager set up by Perpetual Trustees Australia, has won its first major client since it opened for business earlier this year. Irish Life, distributor of pension and investment...

News: Artemis to hunt for mandates from funds seeking outperformance.
May 9, 2005... Specialist fund manager Artemis Investment Management is looking to win more mandates from UK pension funds disenchanted with index-hugging active managers. The fund manager has already launched four pooled equity funds for institutional...

News: Sting in the tale - An age-old problem.
May 9, 2005... With all the fuss being made about A-day, we're in danger of ignoring another very important piece of pension legislation that is also due to be enacted in 2006. Well, it's not strictly true to say it's pension legislation, but the requirement...

News: High demand for PMI certificate.
May 9, 2005... The Pensions Management Institute (PMI) said it has had a high demand for its pension plan executive certificate (PPEC) since it was introduced in March this year. PMI said it has awarded 30 certificates since they were launched. The...

News: Ombudsman rules against Pru over AVC mis-selling claims.
May 9, 2005... The ombudsman has made a string of determinations against Prudential over claims of mis-selling pension top-ups to teachers. A large number of teachers claimed that Prudential was allegedly guilty of mis-selling additional voluntary...

News: Standard Life offers online access to its voting procedures.
May 9, 2005... Standard Life Investments has launched an online voting disclosure site to highlight its commitment to corporate governance and accountability. The investment house's disclosures are uploaded on the site on a monthly basis in arrears. The...

News: Employers prepare for compulsory contributions.
May 9, 2005... Employers are bracing themselves for compulsory contributions to their employees' pension funds, research revealed. Most employers consider that the introduction of compulsory employer pension contributions is likely, according to employee...

News: NAPF notice board.
May 9, 2005... Proposed NAPF board changes A resolution to be put to the NAPF annual general meeting in Manchester proposes changes to the structure of the NAPF board, enhancing the association's corporate governance. The proposals, drawn up by the...

News: DB members more aware than DC of retirement income.
May 9, 2005... A significant number of defined contribution (DC) scheme members are unaware of what their retirement income will be, according to research. A study by consultant Watson Wyatt showed that members of DC schemes were considerably less aware...

News: Allocations in UK equity still too high, says Mercer.
May 9, 2005... Pension fund trustees should diversify their portfolios to reduce any impact they could sustain from a high UK equity stock concentration, Mercer Investment Consulting warned. The consultant said pension fund investment in the UK market is...

News: FTSE creates capped index.
May 9, 2005... Index provider FTSE Group has created a 5% capped index series catering specifically for global investors and pension fund managers. It said that the companies within the new indices will be the same as the standard FTSE 100 and FTSE...

News: Events.
May 9, 2005... DB FINANCES SEMINAR Norton Rose and ABN Amro are hosting a joint seminar addressing the future management of UK defined benefit pension scheme finances in a post April 2005 world. The seminar, which is aimed at trustees, pension...

Governance update: No compensation for handovers necessary.
May 9, 2005... There have been two cases this year of 'handover bonuses' to departing executive directors and RREV has registered its concern by recommending votes against the remuneration report at the annual general meetings (AGMs) of the companies...

Spotlight: Reaching a pensions consensus.
May 9, 2005... It seems incongruous to talk of political consensus amidst the bile and clamour of a general election campaign. But a stable political framework for reform is vital if there is to be a sustainable long-term solution to the UK's burgeoning...

Special focus: Creating a distinguished investment portfolio.
May 9, 2005... Style investing, which has been an established investment approach in the US for many years, is typically based on value and growth investing, with institutional investors seeking to combine value and growth portfolios from different fund...

Opinion: Leader - Time for a joined-up approach to pensions education.
May 9, 2005... One of the problems in turning public concern over pension issues into political action is that pensions mean a lot of different things to different people. For the elderly struggling to cope on a low income, the issue is the adequacy of...

Opinion: Personal view - A good trustee, sponsor relationship is key.
May 9, 2005... In the early 1990s, Bill Gates approached Encyclopaedia Britannica to create a digital version. Failing to recognise a fundamental change in the way people wanted information, they turned it down. Gates then created Encarta, which became the...

Opinion: Inside view - The power of the new Pensions Regulator.
May 9, 2005... The Pensions Act 2004 raised many issues, not least concerning anti-avoidance behaviour by companies, their directors and connected parties, with regard to their obligations towards defined benefit (DB) scheme members. The powers awarded...

Special Focus: Asset Allocation - Intro.
May 9, 2005... UK pension funds are painfully aware of the importance of appropriate asset allocation and are now exhibiting a clear trend to portfolio diversification. Trustees are gradually moving schemes assets to a more global footing, with a far...

Special Focus: Asset Allocation - The evolution of asset allocation.
May 9, 2005... It would be easy to think pension fund asset allocation has undergone a mini revolution over the past few years, given the millions of words that have been written and spoken about the need to more accurately match assets with liabilities and...

Special Focus: Asset Allocation - Slow progress into the mainstream.
May 9, 2005... Despite the weight given to alternative investments in the trade press over the past five years, not to mention the gentle encouragement embodied in Paul Myners' review of 2001, the move into alternative investments over the past five years has...

Special Focus: Asset Allocation - Please release me.
May 9, 2005... Consistently beating a benchmark is difficult, as the history of active management shows. However, asset allocation overlays seem to generate more consistent performance than typical long-only managers. So, why have asset allocation...

Special Focus: Asset Allocation - Company Profile - World Gold Council.
May 9, 2005... Background The World Gold Council (WGC) is funded by the world's leading gold mining companies. It exists solely to promote the use of gold in its four main forms: jewellery, investment and in the industrial and official sectors. ...