Pensions Week articles from November 2007

Pensions Week archives from November 2007

News: Paternoster lock-in deals questioned.
November 5, 2007... Byline: Gill Wadsworth Paternoster, the bulk buyout provider, and consultant Hymans Robertson have denied acting uncompetitively by entering into exclusivity deals with pension schemes. In a potential buyout of a small UK pension...

News: PCS reports fall in deficit.
November 5, 2007... Byline: David Ricketts The total pension deficit of FTSE 100 companies improved by GBP44bn since last year, according to a leading pensions risk management company. Pension Capital Strategies' (PCS) quarterly report investigating the...

This week: Shield your eyes from the prize.
November 5, 2007... Byline: Gill Wadsworth, Editor, Pensions Week Some of my more unkind friends and relations claim I harbour an unnecessarily competitive streak. Perhaps this is justified by lengthy sulks following losses in various games and competitions,...

News: Avon's hedge fund foray sees success.
November 5, 2007... Byline: David Ricketts The Avon pension fund's controversial decision to allocate 10% of its assets to hedge funds appears to be paying off, according to the investment officer of the GBP2.2bn fund. Speaking at the Hedge Royale...

News: O'Brien to help divorcees obtain PPF payouts.
November 5, 2007... Byline: David Ricketts The minister for pensions reform wants to restructure the Pension Protection Fund (PPF), making it easier for divorcing couples to share compensation. Speaking at a Deloitte public finance roundtable, Mike...

News: PensionsFirst launches hybrid LDI solution for DB.
November 5, 2007... Byline: Gill Wadsworth A middle way between bulk buyout and liability-driven investment has hit the market for UK defined benefit (DB) schemes. PensionsFirst has launched a service offering longevity bonds to schemes attempting to take...

News: Unite prioritises pensions in S&N takeover.
November 5, 2007... Byline: James Thomas As round one of the bidding battle for Scottish & Newcastle (S&N) draws to a close, unions are maintaining a watchful eye over proceedings, with protection of employees' pensions foremost in their minds. While S&N...

News in brief.
November 5, 2007... State Street Global Advisors (SSGA) has been appointed by the BAA pension scheme to manage a GBP330m global equity 130/30 mandate. The assets will be invested in SSGA's global alpha edge equity investment strategy, which uses a 130/30...

News: Midland rail workers walk out over pensions.
November 5, 2007... Byline: Hannah Williams Train services between London and northern England suffered major disruptions after hundreds of drivers walked out in a dispute over pensions. Two hundred drivers on the Midland Mainline network have begun a...

News: Company comment - Finding value in an uncertain world.
November 5, 2007... Byline: Matt McDonald - Deputy fund manager, ING Lionbrook Property Fund, ING REAL ESTATE The hardening of investment yields across the UK commercial property market experienced in recent times saw a divergence between income growth and...

News: Consultants should provide LDI solution.
November 5, 2007... Byline: James Thomas Fidelity's head of defined benefit (DB) business has called on more investment consultants to offer fund management services. In spite of the obvious competition, Martin Harris, managing director of DB business at...

News: Positive response to regulator dispute resolution draft.
November 5, 2007... Byline: Hannah Williams Draft dispute resolution regulations aiming to increase flexibility in occupational pension procedures have been welcomed by the industry, as the government delays changes to transfer value rulings. The proposed...

News: Delo leaves Close role to focus on PMI.
November 5, 2007... Byline: David Ricketts Recently elected president of the Pensions Management Institute (PMI), Steve Delo, is to leave his position as managing director of Close Investments' multi-manager division at the start of the new year. Delo...

News: Gender gap widens as women save less.
November 5, 2007... Byline: David Ricketts The gap between men and women saving for their retirement is widening, figures from a new report have suggested. Findings published by Scottish Widows revealed just 41% of women who could save for their...

News: One-fifth of UK employers look to boost DC offering.
November 5, 2007... Byline: David Ricketts One in five employers with a defined contribution (DC) arrangement are considering increasing the contributions they pump into their schemes, a survey has revealed. In research conducted by global consulting...

News: Workers pessimistic about state pension.
November 5, 2007... Byline: James Thomas Over half of UK workers do not believe the state pension system will exist when they come to retire, and just one-quarter believe the benefits will be paid in full. A study by Towers Perrin found the under-35s were...

Current affairs: Profile - Kerrin Rosenberg.(Company overview)
November 5, 2007... Byline: Gill Wadsworth Fiduciary management is big business in the Netherlands. Even the largest schemes with considerable in-house staff are able to identify the benefits of handing responsibility for their investment strategy to a third...

Current affairs: The limitations of rough valuations.
November 5, 2007... Byline: Raj Mody A colleague of mine in the firm's pensions practice recently retired from the partnership. In reminiscing over his long career at the organisation now known as PricewaterhouseCoopers, he recalled the time when desktop...

The insider: Personal view - Preserving DB through risk sharing: taking a step towards legislation.
November 5, 2007... Byline: Martin Harris The government's response to the pensions deregulatory review published last week offers welcome encouragement to those who would like to see greater scope for risk-sharing schemes in the defined benefit (DB) space....

The insider: Technical view - Investment funds' bread and butter.
November 5, 2007... Byline: Karen McCusker Over the last few years, many pension fund trustees, influenced by their consulting actuaries and advisers, have been reducing their equity exposure in favour of alternative investments, having been lured by the...

Industry watch: Governance - Decision-making is biased by behaviour.
November 5, 2007... Byline: Tom Powdrill Behavioural economics is an area of study that is having an increasingly significant influence in a wide range of policy areas. Very broadly it seeks to apply insights from psychology, particularly in the area of...

Industry watch: Notice board - NAPF corporate governance seminar.
November 5, 2007... NAPF annual corporate governance seminar - November 27, NAPF offices, Westminster This one-day seminar highlights the issues at the heart of corporate governance and looks at what the priorities should be for the future. Sir...

Industry watch: View from the bridge.
November 5, 2007... Byline: Norman Russell Telent It is terribly tempting this week to talk about Telent and the takeover panel. On deadline day for this column, the panel gave a limited partnership, whose general partner is advised by Pension...

Pensions workout: Advanced - Portable alpha - Advanced level.
November 5, 2007... Once the decision is made to implement a portable alpha solution, selecting the appropriate skill-based returns (alpha) and identifying the most efficient means to access the desired market-based returns (beta) are the next steps. These should...

Supplement: Special Focus - Introduction.
November 5, 2007... Byline: Gill Wadsworth, Editor, Pensions Week A diversified portfolio is now nothing but logical for UK pension funds. A healthy spread of risk across asset classes is accepted as the way forward for investment strategies, with heavy...

Supplement: Special Focus - A dynamic market.
November 5, 2007... Byline: Ceri Jones As the benefits of asset diversification become widely appreciated, the conundrum pension funds face is whether to go for separate, specialist managers or multi-asset strategies with a single house. A central issue...

Supplement: Special Focus - Balancing out the load.
November 5, 2007... Byline: Alain Kerneis Multiple choice, multiplex cinema, multiplication; you may think that things with 'multi' in their name are generally more complex. Yet with multi- strategy portfolios, the opposite is the case. Multi-strategy...

Supplement: Special Focus - Company - A word from the sponsor...
November 5, 2007... Multi-strategy investing at Goldman Sachs Asset Management With multiple independent investment teams managing a broad range of products across asset classes, styles and geographies, as well as separate funds-of- funds and manager selection...

On the move - Investec's UK head makes move to Oz.
November 5, 2007... Byline: David Ricketts A major reshuffle is underway at Investec Asset Management as head of institutional UK, Mark Samuelson, moves down under to take up his new role as managing director of the company's Australia-based operation. ...

On the move: Going places.
November 5, 2007... WW team scores with the help of Ball Watson Wyatt has appointed John Ball as head of UK and Ireland defined benefit consulting and David Cross as head of benefits general consulting. Ball will manage some 600 actuarial and other...

On the move: Top 4 moves.
November 5, 2007... 01 - Alex O'Reilly OLD - O'Reilly was part of Rio Tinto's pension investments team NEW - Joins Newton Investment Management's global equities team Tel: 020 7163 9000 02 - Stephen Lefley OLD - Lefley has left his post as...

News: Council funds rapped over Burma assets.
November 12, 2007... Byline: Hannah Williams Public sector pension schemes and their fund managers have been slammed for investing in Burma-based companies, following concerns political unrest could impact on financial returns. The Lewisham council fund...

News: Few choose contingents.
November 12, 2007... Byline: David Ricketts Only a handful of pension schemes have introduced contingent assets after the introduction of the Pension Regulator's new scheme-specific funding regime, research has shown. A study by Hewitt Associates, looking...

This week: DWP and over-50s are virtually friends.
November 12, 2007... Byline: Gill Wadsworth - Editor, Pensions Week After witnessing my mother attempting to use a computer mouse in the same way one would use a TV remote control by lifting it up and pointing it at the monitor, I was left with little hope she...

News: Ford defends funds ahead of takeover.
November 12, 2007... Byline: David Ricketts Ford has hit back at claims its pension deficit could scupper a takeover deal of its UK brands, Land Rover and Jaguar, arguing funds are performing to a healthy standard. Reports had suggested potential buyers of...

News: Take-up rate of contingent assets will grow, say 94%.
November 12, 2007... Byline: Hannah Williams The majority of UK pension schemes are in favour of contingent assets and want to see more innovation to encourage take-up, Pensions Week research has shown. This month's Trusty 30 survey found 87% of funds felt...

News: Myners' principles are 'in need of an update'.
November 12, 2007... Byline: Hannah Williams Paul Myners' definitive principles for pension fund investment need to be reworked into six codes of best practice, according to an industry review. The year-long study carried out by the National Association of...

News: Food firm and unions united over DB.
November 12, 2007... Byline: David Ricketts United Biscuits has brokered a deal with unions following lengthy discussions over changes to its pension scheme. The food manufacturing giant, which has 3,500 active members in its defined benefit (DB) scheme,...

News in Brief.
November 12, 2007... HSBC Actuaries and Consultants has been appointed to provide administration, actuarial and advisory services for both the defined benefit and defined contribution sections of the 600-member Eaton-Williams Group Pension & Assurance Scheme. ...

News: Disregard proposal could save benefits.
November 12, 2007... Byline: David Ricketts Industry bodies have united to help low to mid-income earners save more for retirement without losing out through means-tested benefits. A report, published by the Pensions Policy Institute (PPI) in conjunction...

News: Douglas predicts DC skills will grow.
November 12, 2007... Byline: David Ricketts The UK pensions industry should expect to see a wave of new talent entering the fold of defined contribution (DC) provision, according to a leading DC figure. Emma Douglas, head of DC sales at BlackRock, believes...

News: Royal Mail advised to focus on deficit, not cost-cutting.
November 12, 2007... Byline: David Ricketts Royal Mail's biggest challenge should be plugging a GBP2.9bn def-icit, not reducing the cost of its future pension promises, an independent consultant has warned. Commenting in an open forum note for RBC Capital...

News: Pensions Corp's Telent bid accepted by 94%.
November 12, 2007... Pensions Corporation is one step closer to the biggest secondary market buyout deal in UK history after its GBP400m offer for the GBP3bn Telent pension scheme was accepted by 94% of shareholders. However, the takeover will not be completed...

News: HR struggles to reconcile executive benefits.
November 12, 2007... Byline: James Thomas Many human resource directors are ignorant about the often significantly different pension benefits of their senior employees, according to consultants. While most companies claim to manage executive pay on a...

News in Brief.
November 12, 2007... Jessop Fund Managers (JFM) has awarded two mandates to BNY Mellon Asset Servicing to administer funds, following the transfer of the GBP162m Edinburgh Portfolio personal pension plan to JFM. Services will include transfer agency and fund...

News: Neptune global equity returns treble average.
November 12, 2007... Byline: David Ricketts Investment boutique Neptune Investment Management has delivered a third set of promi-sing results with its global equity fund, despite disappointing performance in UK equities. Figures from the latest Caps pooled...

News: Standard Life fears PADA conflict of interest.
November 12, 2007... Byline: James Thomas The Personal Accounts Delivery Authority (PADA) is dictating the terms upon which personal pension and stakeholder schemes will compete with personal accounts, Standard Life has warned. Paul Myners, PADA chair,...

News: DWP launches online pensions forum for over-50s.
November 12, 2007... Byline: Hannah Williams The government has followed in the footsteps of social networking sites Facebook and MySpace by launching an online service where the public and MPs can discuss pensions. The initiative forms part of the...

News: Industry waits to see how PAs will operate.
November 12, 2007... Byline: James Thomas The announcement of the Pensions Bill 2007 in the Queen's speech received a muted response, as the industry awaits confirmation on how personal accounts will work in practice. While no concrete timetable for the...

News: Barings favours 130/30 fixed income.
November 12, 2007... Byline: James Thomas Baring Asset Management is advocating a 130/30 approach to fixed income in response to clients' and consultants' increased expectations of the asset class. Toby Nangle, Barings' director of fixed income, said...

News: Regulator faces criticism over recent guidance.
November 12, 2007... Byline: Gill Wadsworth A global consultant has accused the Pensions Regulator of being naive and of making assumptions in its latest clearance guidance. Mercer said the most recent draft clearance from the pensions watchdog was "more...

Current Affairs: Profile - Emma Douglas.
November 12, 2007... The increasing swathe of final salary pension scheme closures has left many in the industry viewing defined contribution offerings (DC) as the inevitable future of pension provision in the UK. With this type of benefit set to increase in...

Current Affairs: Industry must ask more questions.
November 12, 2007... What is the industry playing at? Chris Grayling, the Tory shadow work and pensions secretary, makes what seems to me to be a blindingly obvious statement. The opposition will cease to pretend there is a consensus over pensions reform unless...

The insider: Personal view - Schemes' individual needs must remain at the heart of all funding decisions.
November 12, 2007... Byline: Gary Tansley The scheme-specific funding regime is nearly two years old, and hundreds of valuations have already been completed under it. A key aspect of the regime is the change of power between trustees and scheme sponsors. Where...

The Insider: Technical view - Taking the weight off private pensions.
November 12, 2007... Byline: Michelle Lewis Earlier this year, Ed Sweeney and Chris Lewin published their deregulatory review of private pensions. And make no mistake: this review and the government's response to it is as important to the future of pension...

Industry watch: Governance - Responsible investors get their hands dirty.
November 12, 2007... Byline: Tom Powdrill Following the suppression of protests by Buddhist monks in Burma just over a month ago, the gaze of the world's media has inevitably moved on to other issues. But while the struggle for freedom in Burma may no longer...

Industry watch: Notice board - NAPF conferences and seminars.(Conference news)
November 12, 2007... Investing today, securing tomorrow NAPF investment conference 2008 March 5-7, Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC) In the complex and fast-moving pensions and investment environment, the NAPF investment conference is the...

Industry watch: View from the bridge.
November 12, 2007... Byline: Norman Russell Sack the lawyers I understand from my trainee, Brian, that the 12-month long solicitors legal practice course is deficient in two respects. First, it does not teach trainee lawyers much about pensions. Secondly,...

Trusty30: Contingent assets survey.
November 12, 2007... Byline: Hannah Williams Press reports seem to be awash with conflicting views on the health of pension fund balance sheets. While on one hand there is talk of the huge scheme deficits, on the other actuaries are warning funds to take heed...

Supplement: Special Focus - Introduction.
November 12, 2007... Byline: Gill Wadsworth - Editor, Pensions Week The migration of assets from the UK to foreign shores has been well documented, as pension trustees seek greater portfolio diversification. Property holdings have been no exception to the rule,...

Supplement: Special Focus - Going global.
November 12, 2007... Byline: Alex Aspinall Recent domestic slowdown and promising performance from overseas markets have increasingly led UK pension funds abroad as they seek to maximise the returns provided by property portfolios. And while the move from the...

Supplement: Special Focus - Riding the worldwide wave.
November 12, 2007... Byline: Peter Hobbs After a number of years of very strong performance, the UK property market is in the early stages of a cyclical downturn that is likely to remain until the end of the decade. Over the five years to end 2006, ungeared...

Supplement: Special Focus - Company Focus - A word from the sponsor...(Company overview)
November 12, 2007... Background RREEF Real Estate acquires and manages investments in commercial and residential property, and real estate securities on behalf of its institutional and private clients worldwide. Its product offering is global and...

Supplement: Special Focus - Euro vision.
November 12, 2007... Byline: Michael Clarke During the last two years, an increasing number of UK pension funds have sought to increase the level of diversification in their property portfolios through investing in continental European markets. While some...

Supplement: Special Focus - Company Focus - A word from the sponsor...
November 12, 2007... Background Schroders is a global asset management company with GBP137.6bn (204.5bn/US$276.2bn) under management at June 30, 2007. With one of the largest networks of offices of any dedicated asset management company, over 300 portfolio...

Supplement: Special Focus - On the move - Gillespie kickstarts innovation at BNP.
November 12, 2007... Byline: James Thomas BNP Paribas has poached Craig Gillespie from Watson Wyatt to join its London pensions team. The move is part of the investment bank's ongoing pensions recruitment drive, spearheaded by Tony Osborn-Barker, global...

Supplement: Special Focus - Going places.
November 12, 2007... Henderson grows global property team Henderson Global Investors' property business has appointed Laura Wilks as associate director of institutional business. Wilks joins from CBRE Investors and will report to Albert Yang, director of...

Supplement: Special Focus - Top 4 moves.
November 12, 2007... 01 - Mark Samuelson OLD - Samuelson was head of Investec's UK institutional business NEW - He will now head up the asset manager's Australian operation Tel: +61 2 9293 2000 02 - John Ball & David Cross OLD - Both worked...

News: Bill consensus breaks down ahead of vote.
November 19, 2007... Byline: Gill Wadsworth The government has implored opposition parties to maintain support for the forthcoming pensions bill in the face of crumbling political consensus. Following a debate in the House of Commons last week, in which...

News: Buyout rate slows down.
November 19, 2007... Byline: David Ricketts The number of defined benefit (DB) pension schemes handing wholesale control of their funds to a third-party has declined over the last quarter, prompting suggestions the pensions buyout market is struggling to get...

News: This week - Party politics in the playground.
November 19, 2007... Byline: Gill Wadsworth - Editor, Pensions Week While there is something mildly creepy about politicians when they are in agreement with one another, there is no denying it is actually helpful when we're trying to push through reforms. ...

News: Avon defends lead role in GSK case.
November 19, 2007... Byline: David Ricketts Lawyers representing the GBP2.2bn Avon pension fund in its US class action against GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) have rubbished attempts by German schemes attempting to extricate the fund's position as lead plaintiff. ...

News: Pharmaceuticals fail to improve drug strategies.
November 19, 2007... Byline: Hannah Williams More needs to be done by pharmaceutical companies to promote access to medicines in developing countries, according to research by institutional investors. In March this year UK pension funds threw their...

News: UBP reports increased interest in hedge funds.
November 19, 2007... Byline: Gill Wadsworth UK pension funds are allocating as much as 20% to alternative assets with an emphasis on hedge funds, according to a Swiss-based fund manager. Union Bancaire Privee (UBP), the fund manager that has been...

News: Rathbone sees strong results in Q3.(Financial report)
November 19, 2007... Byline: DR A heavy reliance on emerging markets has seen the Rathbone UK managed pension fund deliver a strong set of results over the last quarter, securing its place within the top 10 funds for the seventh year running. The latest...

News in Brief.
November 19, 2007... The London Borough of Islington pension fund has appointed BNY Mellon Asset Servicing as global custodian to oversee its assets, worth GBP718m. The securities servicing leader has acted as the pension fund's global custodian since 1998,...

News: Investors warned of climate change losses.
November 19, 2007... Byline: Hannah Williams Institutional investors have been urged to reassess investments in non- sustainable sectors, such as oil and coal, or face damaging fund losses from the effects of climate change. Speaking at the Sarasin...

News: Companies should implement auto-enrolment sooner.
November 19, 2007... Byline: Gill Wadsworth Employers anxious about the cost of personal accounts should implement auto- enrolment ahead of the 2012 deadline, Fidelity International claimed. The fund manager argued scheme sponsors that grabbed the...

News: Regulator justifies Telent fund decision.
November 19, 2007... Byline: Hannah Williams The Pensions Regulator has defended its appointment of independent trustees in the takeover of the GBP2.5bn Telent pension fund, citing concerns about Pensions Corporation's (PC) intentions for the scheme's assets....

News: Newspaper groups in wrangle over benefits.
November 19, 2007... Byline: Hannah Williams Newspaper pension schemes across the UK are at the centre of disputes over benefit changes and unsecured scheme deficits. More than 9,000 journalists employed by media giant Newsquest are preparing for an...

News: ETVs expected to rise in popularity.
November 19, 2007... Byline: David Ricketts The use of enhanced transfer value (ETV) programmes could see a surge in popularity, despite fears it may lead to some deferred members cashing in their pension early. John Broome Saunders, actuary at BDO Stoy...

News in Brief.
November 19, 2007... BNP Paribas' Harewood Structured Investment is to launch its second UK high income fund - UK High Income Two. The fund will target a yield of 7.5% along with a potential for capital growth in a tax-efficient format. The portfolio will be...

News: DC governance burden will lead to reassessment.
November 19, 2007... Byline: James Thomas Consultants are predicting a widespread reassessment of defined contribution (DC) schemes in the face of a growing governance burden. Research by Mercer confirmed that globally, workplace pensions are now...

News: Staff still losing out on employer contributions.
November 19, 2007... Byline: David Ricketts The average combined contribution rate to defined contribution (DC) pension schemes has reached almost 15%, but employees continue to miss out by paying in the minimum, according to the latest industry figures. ...