Pensions Week articles from November 2002

Pensions Week archives from November 2002

News: Public support for retirement flexibility.(Brief Article)
November 4, 2002... The government will be told today to introduce a "retirement decade" when a senior independent policy maker unveils a set of proposals at the House of Commons for increased personal savings and tackling pensioner poverty. Ros Altmann, a...

News: Benefit boosts unlikely but university fund will survive.(University Superannuation Scheme)(Brief Article)
November 4, 2002... Worried university teachers have been told not to expect benefit increases due to market conditions - but to be prepared to fight off any attempts to close their scheme down. Recent press stories about pensions caused lecturers to call up...

News: Opra's wait for NAO verdict.(Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority)(National Audit Office)(Brief Article)
November 4, 2002... Regulators at the Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority (Opra) will be ducking under the tables this week, as they await a report by the National Audit Office (NAO) into its effectiveness. The NAO always sets out to be critical but...

News: Adams to drop pensions bombshell in US.(Gerry Adams)
November 4, 2002... Irish republican leader Gerry Adams could raise the issue of a pension scheme deficit at a Belfast fertiliser manufacturer in his next visit to the USA, in a bid to embarrass chemicals giant ICI in its largest market. Sinn Fein MPs want...

News: Career average plans not a popular choice.(final salary pension plans)(Brief Article)
November 4, 2002... Almost none of the companies closing down final salary plans are replacing them with career average schemes. Just 3% of companies who closed their plans over the past five years introduced the career average model in the final salary's...

News: PW survey shows pessimism over Pickering.(Pensions Week, Pickering report)
November 4, 2002... Pension schemes are pessimistic over the consequences of the Pickering report, according to Pensions Week's second annual survey of pooled funds. The survey, which is sponsored by Morley Fund Management and published as a separate...

News: Diageo deficit dives by oe600m.(pension fund)
November 4, 2002... The GBP2.3bn Diageo pension fund issued its first annual benefit statements to members for last week - the same week it had to report a GBP600m increase in the fund's deficit. The scheme started sending out the statements last week in a...

News: Dorset goes to tender.(Dorset County Council pension fund)(Brief Article)
November 4, 2002... The GBP680m Dorset County Council pension fund is going out to tender for an actuary for the first time in almost 25 years. The fund currently uses Watson Wyatt which has been invited to re-tender. Nick Buckland, investment officer at...

News: Gobbledegook replaced by the painful truth.(pension scheme market valuation)
November 4, 2002... Almost all pension schemes have abandoned actuarial "gobblede-gook" and are now valuing liabilities by market values. Research shows a dramatic swing away from "infamous smoothing devices" and "audacious second-guessing of the stock...

News: Protest cake farewell for Buckley from E7.(Sir Michael Buckley, Equitable Life)
November 4, 2002... The parliamentary ombudsman received a birthday cake last week as a sardonic protest by Equitable Life policy holders marking a year since the ombudsman started investigating the regulator's role in the Equitable saga. On Tuesday...

News: Hands off tax breaks, Francis warns...(Masry Francis, Association of British Insurers)(Brief Article)
November 4, 2002... The director general of the Association of British Insurers (ABI) launched a blistering attack on suggestions that the government will alter the tax incentives for pensions savings in the forthcoming green paper. Speaking at an ABI seminar...

News: ... scrap the current tax rules, says Bee.(Steve Bee)(Brief Article)
November 4, 2002... Scottish Life has told the work and pensions select committee inquiry into pensions reform that the current range of tax rules should be scrapped. In its submission, the life company said that the plethora of tax rules and regulations act...

News: Scots join call for councillor rights.(access to pension schemes)(includes Scottish Life Assurance Co.)
November 4, 2002... Scottish councillors have backed the calls for local councillors to have access to the local government pension scheme (LGPS). The move increases tension between Whitehall and local government officials over the issue. Currently,...

News: VW's drive for online pensions.(Volkswagen Group pension system)(Brief Article)
November 4, 2002... The Volkswagen Group has launched an online pensions benefits system for its UK employees. The move will allow it to communicate to members more effectively and help ease pensions administration, according to VW. The system will also...

News: Teachers aim for more stability.(Teaschers Pension Scheme)(Brief Article)
November 4, 2002... The Treasury has told the unfunded Teachers Pension Scheme (TPS) that it can change its valuation method to reflect instability in the stock market. Currently the TPS' notional fund is considered to have delivered the average rate of...

News: Sting in the tale - Green with envy.(pensioins green paper and review)
November 4, 2002... How important is this pensions green paper? Very important, I think. The so- called pensions crisis we currently face, if it is a crisis, is one that relates to pensions distribution. This green paper, together with the reviews of pensions and...

News: CWU strike threat could cause Christmas chaos.(Communication Workers Union, Post Office)
November 4, 2002... The ongoing pensions crisis is endangering Christmas card delivery because unions are threatening the Post Office with strike action over plans to sell- off its cash handling and distribution (CHD) division. This could lose Consignia pension...

News: LGPS urged to keep pensions simple.(Local Government Pension Scheme)(Brief Article)
November 4, 2002... The government has called for greater simplification of the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) as part of the stock-take initiative. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister wants local authorities to comment on how the scheme can be...

News: FSA's menu system caters for IFAs.(Financial Services Authority, independent financial advisers)
November 4, 2002... The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has bowed to pressure from independent financial advisers (IFAs) and abandoned plans to scrap commissions for IFAs. The Association of Independent Financial Advisers (AIFA) welcomed plans by the FSA...

News: Easier insurance for advisers.(Brief Article)
November 4, 2002... The financial regulator has made it easier for independent financial advisers (IFAs) to gain professional indemnity insurance after the prices set by insurers went up. A modification to the rules centres on requirements with which a firm's...

News: Commissions must go, says CSFI.(Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation)(Brief Article)
November 4, 2002... Commission-driven selling should be dumped, according to a report from the Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation (CSFI). The dominant commission-based model of financial selling operated as an effective monopoly, keeping financial...

News: Industry fears compliance.(regulatory costs)(Brief Article)
November 4, 2002... Around 80% of compliance professionals in the financial services industry think costs imposed by the regulator will eventually force them to close to new business. In addition, 95% say the latest Financial Services Authority's regulatory...

News: Pensioner claims go undelivered.(Brief Article)
November 4, 2002... Two Consignia pensioners have dropped a claim for increased benefits after receiving legal advice that it would not succeed, as it was beyond the ombudsman's jurisdiction. The members of the Consignia pension scheme protested against the...

News: Ombudsman Watch.
November 4, 2002... Lessons from the courts Cases dealing with disappointed expectations, because of the non-delivery of ill-health benefits, are high on the list of recurring ombudsman complaints. This week I highlight a couple of court decisions, in the...

News: LGIM has passives to thank for top ranking.(Legal & General Investment Management)
November 4, 2002... Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM) has kept its lead as the largest manager of UK pension funds, thanks to its passive investment business, according to a survey of the top 50 fund managers. Strong business growth in 2001 helped...

News: Barclays scheme joins Coller Capital private equity fund.(pension scheme)(Brief Article)
November 4, 2002... Barclays pension scheme has joined a global private equity secondaries fund. The fund, run by Coller Capital, last week said it had passed its initial target for funding by 150%. Coller announced a GBP1.6bn final closing for Coller...

News: Women pessimistic on promotion prospects.(includes two articles)(Brief Article)
November 4, 2002... As many as a third of women who work in the insurance industry could feel they have no career prospects. A small sample interviewed also unanimously said that men dominate the top management positions in their firms. Thirty-eight per...

News: European market neutral hedge fund from BGI.(Barclays Global Investors)(Brief Article)
November 4, 2002... Barclays Global Investors (BGI), has launched a market neutral hedge fund. The European Equity Market Neutral Fund is aimed at hedge fund of fund providers, institutional investors and family offices, and it is the second market neutral...

News: Hedge funds drop but equities fall further.(MSCI indexes)
November 4, 2002... Hedge fund performance fell by -0.5% in September, but conventional equity funds plummeted even further. The -0.5% decline recorded by the MSCI Hedge Fund Composite Index brings the year-to-date performance of the much-hyped hedge fund...

News: Barnett turns to MoM for oe6bn client base.(Barnett Waddingham, SEI Investments Co. manager of managers)(Brief Article)
November 4, 2002... Consultant Barnett Waddingham has teamed up with a manager of managers provider to help improve services to its GBP6bn client base. The partnership with SEI Investments will enable pension fund clients to take a closer look at the manager...

News: Market moves leave investors perplexed.
November 4, 2002... Stock market behaviour is still confusing pension fund investors as fund managers continue to struggle to call the market. Investec Asset Management is sticking to an underweight position in global equities and says the bottom line for...

News: Newton bends to UK equities for more flexibility.(Brief Article)
November 4, 2002... Newton Fund Managers has launched a new UK equity fund aimed at pension schemes. The move follows the demand for greater choice and flexibility as more funds start to look at scheme-specific benchmarks. The exempt UK equity alpha fund...

News: UK housing boom powers European securitisation.(Brief Article)
November 4, 2002... The UK housing boom has helped power the European market in asset-backed securities. Analysts say the European securitisation market is on target to meet 20% year-on-year growth expectations by the end of 2002. This follows an...

News: GSAM's mortgage-backed foray.(Goldman Sachs Asset Management)
November 4, 2002... Fund manager Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM) is entering deeper into the asset-backed securities market by trading in US assets backed by mortgages. The move reflects greater use of the growing asset-backed securities market globally...

News: Broken DB promise leads to ombudsman claim.(Maersk Company Ltd. pension plan)
November 11, 2002... Deferred members of the GBP10m Sea-Land pension scheme are considering an unprecedented complaint to the pensions ombudsman because the parent company, Maersk, did not inform them at the outset that the 'pensions promise' could be withdrawn....

News: Sandler: savings industry too complex for compulsion.(Ron Sandler)(Brief Article)
November 11, 2002... Ron Sandler said the complex and opaque nature of products offered by the UK savings industry was one reason why his recent review of long-term savings did not recommend compulsory pension contributions. His work had found that the savings...

News: Pearson shuts DB to new employees.(Pearson PLC defined benefit pension program)(Brief Article)
November 11, 2002... FTSE 100 company Pearson is to shut its defined benefit (DB) pension scheme to new employees in January. As first revealed in Pensions Week, the GBP1,082m scheme is to close the DB plan to employees who join the company after 1 January 2003...

News: Labour rules out compulsion after 'political suicide' warning.(UK pension funds)
November 11, 2002... The government has ruled out compulsory pension savings as political suicide, according to a senior adviser. No. 10 policy adviser Ros Altmann said there was an urgent need to overhaul 50 years of the pensions system but there was no...

News: Blair faces up to serious pensions problem.(Tony Blair)(Brief Article)
November 11, 2002... Prime Minster Tony Blair accepted that there is "a serious problem" with pensions last week. Illustrating how far up the agenda pensions has climbed, Blair said at a press briefing that the green paper will deal with the provision of...

News: Key staff upheaval at Profund.(Profund Systems, software provider for pensions administration)
November 11, 2002... Profund Systems, the market leading software provider for pensions administration, has lost three directors and four key development staff in two separate moves. In the last few weeks, Profund's head of strategy and development Malcolm...

News: Aquila expands its software Lynx.(Brief Article)
November 11, 2002... Pensions software company Aquila has acquired administration systems provider Lynx Heywood. The move will take the group's total number of clients to 200 for 5.5 million pension scheme members. Clients include Prudential, CGNU, Diageo,...

News: Mis-selling is fraud, says Ward.(Sue Ward)(Brief Article)
November 11, 2002... Trustees have stood by their accusation of "mis-selling" of final salary pensions - and went even further by labelling the end of the pensions promise as misrepresentation or even fraud. Sue Ward, secretary to the Independent Pensions...

News: Sacked worker wins right to ill-health benefits.(Brief Article)
November 11, 2002... A chief executive of Glamorgan Council has won a claim against the pension fund for maladministration after it failed to assess and pay his ill-health pension. The council argued that the employee - D Foster - was not entitled to the early...

News: Hammersmith may move in-house with pensions admin.(The London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham )(Brief Article)
November 11, 2002... The London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham pension fund is reviewing its pensions administration as an existing outsourcing contract ends next year. The London Pensions Fund Authority (LPFA) currently administers the scheme. ...

News: Left field - Ask the people.(pension reform planning)
November 11, 2002... While presumably working hard on the long-awaited pensions green paper, the government floats the idea of a royal commission on retirement income. What can possibly be going on? If press reports are to be believed, the idea came from the...

News: Pension pressure sparks fire service overspend.(The London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority )
November 11, 2002... Pensions pressure has burst the London Fire Service budget by over GBP1m in the first six months of the year. The London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority (LFEPA) said the GBP1.2m overspend on a budget of GBP92.6m was entirely due to...

News: Jupiter slams 'index hugging' funds.(UK pension fund)(Brief Article)
November 11, 2002... Jupiter Unit Trust Managers has attacked traditional managed personal pension funds for their "poor performance" and what the company says is a lack of courage to deviate from each other and their respective indices. Research from Jupiter...

News: Livingstone plans centralised admin to help reduce costs.(Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London)(Brief Article)
November 11, 2002... Local authorities in London may be forced to centralise pensions administration if radical suggestions by the mayor of London go ahead. PW understands that Ken Livingstone has expressed concerns over the cost of running London pension...

News: Public wants radical changes to prevent pensioner poverty.(Brief Article)
November 11, 2002... More than 90% of the people in the UK believe there is a serious pensions crisis and feel the government will have to make some radical changes to prevent pensioner poverty. A report unveiled at the House of Commons last week by research...

News: State Street pays $1.5bn for parts of Deutsche.(Brief Article)
November 11, 2002... State Street Corporation has signed definitive agreements with Deutsche Bank to acquire substantial parts of Deutsche's Global Securities Services business. Under the terms of the agreement, State Street will pay a purchase price of up to...

News: Revenue may compensate after oe80m payout blunder.(The Inland Revenue will consider compensation to pension scheme administrators)(Brief Article)
November 11, 2002... The Inland Revenue will consider compensation to pension scheme administrators after GBP80m was overpaid in contracted-out rebates. Between the tax years 1997/98 and 2000/01, the Revenue made duplicate rebate payments via pension funds to...

Letters: Madness in the method.(Brief Article)
November 11, 2002... John Shuttleworth tries once again to justify the move to market-based valuation methods (PW 4.11.02), despite their abject failure to provide a consistent and logical basis for the long-term valuation of pension fund assets and liabilities....

Letters: War of the words.(Brief Article)
November 11, 2002... Graeme Robertson of Diageo took issue with the suggestion by member trustee groups IPRG and NPRG that there had been "mis-selling" of final salary pension schemes (PW 28.11.02). The word mis-selling was used, of course, to make the...

News: Lords speak out against Eq Life affair.(Equitable Life )(Brief Article)
November 11, 2002... The role of the Treasury in the collapse of Equitable Life was attacked last week in the House of Lords. The Treasury was accused of setting up a limited inquiry, under Lord Penrose, that does not take in all of the Equitable saga. ...

News: DTI to appeal over older men sex discrimination decision.(The Department of Trade & Industry)(Brief Article)
November 11, 2002... The Department of Trade & Industry (DTI) is to appeal against an employment tribunal's decision that male workers over 65 were discriminated against because they were not entitled to redundancy payments or protection from unfair dismissal. ...

Ombudsman Watch - Brave new world.(pension funds)(Brief Article)
November 11, 2002... Alan Pickering was on the radio last week charming the socks off the Radio 4 Today presenter in the way an average politician can only fantasise about. He was talking about a brave new world in which plumbers in their 50s with worn-out knees...

Ombudsman Watch - BASF Scheme.(pension funds)(Brief Article)
November 11, 2002... Mr Rawsthorne was a member of the scheme, a defined benefit (DB) arrangement, until his early retirement in 1999 at the age of 60. In 1998, a defined contribution (DC) section was introduced into the scheme. Sedgwick's were appointed to advise...

Spotlight: LGPS getting sick of ill-health early retirement.(The local government pensions scheme)
November 11, 2002... Ill-health early retirements have been seen as a problem in the local government pensions sector for some time now. More people are retiring early on grounds of ill-health and as a result the cost of running the local government pensions scheme...

Governance Watch: It's still a man's world at the top.(pension fund directors)(Brief Article)
November 11, 2002... There is a great deal of anticipation about the conclusions Derek Higgs will come to in his review into the role of non-executive directors. Part of the challenge set him was widening the pool of people that are picked to fill non-executive...

Opinion: Leader - It's time for a joined-up pensions policy.(The latest comments of Department for Work and Pensions minister Andrew Smith )(Brief Article)
November 11, 2002... If the latest comments to a Confederation of British Industry conference from Department for Work and Pensions minister Andrew Smith are anything to go by, the government is extremely reluctant to extend compulsion as a means of reducing the...

Opinion: Custody View - Myners, trustees and custody.(UK pension fund industry review)(Editorial)
November 11, 2002... Who wants to be a trustee of a pension scheme? That is a question that in today's environment, needs closer inspection if it is to be answered. One must feel compassion towards trustees, particularly those of small to medium- sized schemes. The...

Opinion: Inside View - Pull together to solve the savings gap.(Editorial)
November 11, 2002... The pensions crisis is an issue that has been much discussed and which is at once extremely simple and infernally complicated. How can we as a society, and as individuals, save enough to maintain a decent income in retirement, without...

Special Report: Property is evolving.(Property as a potential source of value for institutional investors)
November 11, 2002... The Myners' review of institutional investors recently encouraged trustees to take another look at property as a potential source of value. The rationale is clear. The asset class bears little resemblance to the dinosaur it once was,...

People on the move: BAM moves to boost research.(Baring Asset Management)(Brief Article)
November 11, 2002... Baring Asset Management (BAM) has appointed two more members to its UK and Europe investment team in a move to further strengthen its investment resources. Silvia Wendlinger joins as an investment manager for the UK and Europe small- mid...

People on the move: Codd and Salter chip into Mercer's European team.(Mercer Human Resource Consulting (MHRC) has appointed Nick Codd as a senior consultant and European principal and Tony Sallter as a senior consultant)(Brief Article)
November 11, 2002... Mercer Human Resource Consulting (MHRC) has appointed Nick Codd as a senior consultant and European principal. Based in London, he will provide advice to companies and trustees on employee benefit issues. Codd was previously a divisional...

People on the move: DSTi's outsourcing move falls to Towler.(DST International has appointed Robin Towler as vice-president, strategic partners)(Brief Article)
November 11, 2002... Fund management software vendor DST International (DSTi) has appointed Robin Towler as vice-president, strategic partners, as it looks to move into the growing outsourcing market. Towler will be responsible for DSTi's relationships with its...

People on the move: De Savasse takes on risk at Credit Suisse.(Pierre-Henri de Monts de Savasse has joined Credit Suisse Asset Management as a risk analyst.)(Brief Article)
November 11, 2002... Pierre-Henri de Monts de Savasse has joined Credit Suisse Asset Management as a risk analyst. He joins from BNP Paribas Asset Management. Pierre-Henri will report to Ahmed Talhaoui, head of risk and quantitative analysis in London. ...

News Just In... : Opra escapes wrath of NAO in positive report.(The Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority and the National Audit Office )
November 11, 2002... The Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority (Opra) emerged relatively unscathed from a critical report by the National Audit Office (NAO) last week. The NAO, which can often be damning in its various critiques of government departments,...

News Just In... : Tayside remains faithful to Fidelity as Schroders loses out.( Tayside council pension fund )(Brief Article)
November 11, 2002... The GBP775m Tayside council pension fund has dropped fund manager Schroders after a shift from a balanced to a specialist investment structure. Schroder Investment Management previously managed a GBP240m balanced mandate. Fidelity was...

News Just In... : Pickering: crisis, what crisis?(Alan Pickering denied there was a crisis in pensions last week)(Brief Article)
November 11, 2002... Alan Pickering, the head of the review into occupational pensions simplification, denied there was a crisis in pensions last week. Pickering told MPs that he didn't think there was a crisis in the pensions industry and that it was more a...

News: Closure costs split actuaries.(correct pension closure method)
November 18, 2002... Actuaries are split over the methodology which should be used to measure pension benefits when employers close their pension scheme. The debate has acquired new urgency after the recent case at ASW steel company where it is thought many...

News: Scheme member considers ombudsman complaint after open market impairment.(pension fund, Pensions Ombudsman, open market option usage)
November 18, 2002... A member of a well known pension scheme is considering making a complaint to the Pensions Ombudsman because the scheme trustees allegedly prevented him from using the open market option to buy an impaired life annuity with his additional...

News: Penniless pension loser takes complaint to the ombudsman.(Lister and Co. pension investor Maurice Jones loses almost everything after 38 years)(Brief Article)
November 18, 2002... A member of the insolvent Lister & Co pension scheme, who was left virtually penniless after 38 years of saving, has taken his complaint to the pensions ombudsman. Maurice Jones, who was the longest serving member of the scheme, became one...

News: CWU vote to strike over sale.(Communication Workers Union, post office outlets)(Brief Article)
November 18, 2002... Postal workers who process and deliver cash to the UK's network of 17,500 Post Office outlets have overwhelmingly voted in favour of strike action to protect their pension entitlements. A massive 95% of the 3,000 Communication Workers Union...

News: British pound sterling 1.2bn Hertfordshire fund drops Pirc's governance advice for NAPF.(Hertfordshire County Council pension fund, Pensions Investment Research Consultants, National Association of Pension Funds)(Brief Article)
November 18, 2002... A major local authority has dropped its corporate governance adviser - Pensions Investment Research Consultants (Pirc) - following a market-testing exercise. The GBP1.2bn Hertfordshire County Council pension scheme has appointed the...

News: Down to three for long-waited LPFA review.(three consultants, London Pensions Fund Authority)(Brief Article)
November 18, 2002... The London Pensions Fund Authority (LPFA) has shortlisted three consultants following a review. It is the first consultant review for the LPFA in almost 10 years. Current holder Hymans Robertson will be lined up alongside Bacon &...

News: Pre-budget report and green paper pile on the pressure.(pension problems)(Brief Article)
November 18, 2002... The pre-Budget report will be delivered next week on Wednesday 27 November as the chancellor Gordon Brown comes under pressure over continuing pension problems. As Brown looks for a way to solve his GBP17bn public spending black hole...

News: BT connects DC members' interests.(British Telecom, defined contribution plan automated)(Brief Article)
November 18, 2002... One of UK's biggest pension schemes is launching an online service for members of its defined contribution (DC) scheme. British Telecom hopes to have the system - DC modeller - in place next year. It will allow members to switch investments...

News: Delderfield steps in at Martineau Johnson.(Gary Delderfield)(Brief Article)
November 18, 2002... Law firm Martineau Johnson has recruited an Eversheds pensions expert to build up its own regional practice. Gary Delderfield joined Martineau Johnson in Birmingham this month as an associate. His appointment follows that of Louise...

News: NI rise prompts new BBB benefits launch.(national insurance contributions, Berkeley Berry Birch employee benefits company established)(Brief Article)
November 18, 2002... Berkeley Berry Birch (BBB) has launched a dedicated employee benefits company to react to the big rise in national insurance contributions next year. Called Berry Birch and Noble Employee Benefits (BBNEB), the company will work closely...

News: PUTting in high returns this year.(property unit trusts)
November 18, 2002... Pooled property funds have seen some of the best returns over the past year. Property unit trusts (PUT) and managed property funds achieved total returns of 8.7% over 12 months to end September 2002, according to the Investment Property...

News: Gay couples could be granted more pension rights.(Brief Article)
November 18, 2002... Government plans to offer gays legally registered civil partnerships could encourage more pension schemes to grant pensions to same sex dependants. The initiative follows a government review, led by minister for sexual equality issues,...

News: Govt attacked for Queen's Speech pension crisis snub.
November 18, 2002... The government came under fire from opposition parties last week for failing to include pensions in the Queen's Speech. Both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats attacked the prime minister for failing to place pensions firmly on the...

News: SMEs lead the way in employer payment increase.(small to medium-sized enterprises, pensions investments)(Brief Article)
November 18, 2002... Employees of small to medium-sized firms' (SMEs) can look forward to a GBP2bn pensions windfall over the next three years. According to its latest workplace survey, Virgin Money found that employers expected their average payment into staff...