Pensions Week articles from October 2003

Pensions Week archives from October 2003

News: Cost of PPF 'ridiculous' retailer tells Treasury.(Pension Protection Fund)(United Norwest Co-operatives)
October 27, 2003... The United Norwest Co-operatives pension scheme is to meet this week with Ruth Kelly, the financial secretary to the Treasury, after calculating that supporting the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) will cost the scheme GBP673,000 per year - four...

News: Fund managers offer value for money despite fee rise.(Brief Article)
October 27, 2003... Fund manager fees have risen since 1999 for most asset classes, but the industry may offer better value than four years ago. Global equity and specialist UK equity fees have risen the most, by up to 0.14% of assets under management. ...

News: Employers and employees share risk under HBW strategy.(Hewitt Bacon & Woodrow)
October 27, 2003... Hewitt Bacon & Woodrow (HBW) has launched a strategy to enable employers and employees to share the pensions risk in defined benefit (DB) and defined contribution (DC) schemes. Firms adopting HBW's retirement balance account mean employers...

News: Allow young to take pensions on job switch, says TUC.(Trades Union Congress)(Brief Article)
October 27, 2003... The Trades Union Congress (TUC) has called for the government to raise pensions awareness among young people by allowing them to take their contributions with them when they switch jobs. Less than a quarter of young men, and less than one...

News: Standard Life wins fifth service award.(Brief Article)
October 27, 2003... Standard Life has been named as the leading provider of technical assistance by independent financial advisers (IFAs) for the fifth consecutive year. George Street Research made the award to the company's marketing technical services team...

News: Directors given pay deadline.
October 27, 2003... Company directors have until just April next year to agree pay and compensation packages with shareholders before their pensions are hit by new savings limits. High-earning senior executives are expected to seek changes to their pay and...

News: oe232m Havering Council fund appoints Psolve as new investment consultant.(Brief Article)
October 27, 2003... The GBP232m Havering Council pension fund has appointed Psolve as its investment consultant. The fund was previously advised by Hewitt Bacon & Woodrow, which held a one-year contract. Psolve, the consulting arm of Punter Southall, is on a...

News: Target group not heeding warnings over retirement saving.(Brief Article)
October 27, 2003... The message about the dangers of not saving for retirement is not getting through to those who need to save, according to new figures from the Association of British Insurers (ABI). The first of a new quarterly index produced by research...

News: 'Traffic light' system aims to reduce Opra's congestion.(Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority)(Brief Article)
October 27, 2003... The Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority (Opra) has relaxed its reporting requirements for whistleblowers - a move it hopes will reduce the number of minor reports the regulator receives. The system - known as the traffic light system...

News: Market optimism may spark mis-selling.(Brief Article)
October 27, 2003... Optimism in the stock market and a predicted record amount of gilts to be issued this year could spark mis-selling of income drawdown products, according to The Drawdown Bureau. Maximum income drawdown limits rose in line with the increased...

News: Government plans for collapsed schemes fail to silence critics.
October 27, 2003... Government proposals to make the distribution of assets more fair for members of terminated pension schemes would still prejudice workers close to retirement, critics said last week. This means the proposals, launched in a consultation...

News: Trustees need more details on simplified GMPs.(guaranteed minimum pensions)(Brief Article)
October 27, 2003... Trustees cannot help people adequately who are stuck in the "wind-up trap" until government gives out more information about its initiative to simplify guaranteed minimum pensions (GMPs). Chris Martin, managing director of Independent...

News: DWP challenges employers over communication.
October 27, 2003... The minister for pensions, Malcolm Wicks, challenged employers last week to boost their employee communications on pension issues. Speaking at the saver summit organised by the Association of British Insurers, he urged employers to be more...

News: Rate rise will be good news for funds.
October 27, 2003... An increase in long-term interest rates will help reduce pension scheme liabilities or even wipe them out, according to leading actuaries. The government's expected increase in borrowing will result in more gilt issues this year which will...

News: Boardrooms responding to activism.(Brief Article)
October 27, 2003... Fifty per cent of UK top 100 companies are operating a fully independent remuneration committee because of pressure from pension schemes and other shareholders. Institutional investors have had the greatest impact on the composition of...

News: Benchmark - Trustee metrics.
October 27, 2003... The recent pronouncement by Ruth Kelly on what she expects pension funds to achieve in relation to Myners' principles won't worry most pension funds who, I'm sure, comply to a great extent already. Putting aside the debate on whether...

News: Britannic extends its role as corporate citizen.(Association of British Insurers )
October 27, 2003... Britannic Asset Management has extended its policy on shareholder activism by pledging to vote at every UK annual and extraordinary general meeting (AGM, EGM) held by all its institutional fund holdings. Britannic said it wanted to extend...

News: Ageism is past it, says Wicks.(British Department for Work and Pensions minister Malcolm Wicks)(Brief Article)
October 27, 2003... Britain's bosses are starting to eradicate ageism in the work place, claimed Malcolm Wicks, the Department for Work and Pensions minister charged with fighting the issue. Wicks said the results of a survey, by Cranfield School of...

News: IFAs: deferring pensions will cost.(Independent financial advisers)
October 27, 2003... Independent financial advisers (IFAs) are warning that individuals who defer taking their pensions face the prospect of suffering hefty reductions in their funds if they take their benefits at any stage other than the selected retirement age....

News: Ombudsman Watch.(pension benefits)
October 27, 2003... Brave New World Jo, the junior member of our pensions team, has just returned from a post- qualification six week sabbatical in Vietnam (where employers pay 10% and employees 5% of wages for a pension payable at 60 for men and 55 for women...

News: Schroders is positive on Korea.(Schroder Investment Management)(Brief Article)
October 27, 2003... Korea offers great potential for long-term investors, such as pension funds, as it reaps the effect of improvements in other overseas economies, according to Schroder Investment Management. The Korean economy relies heavily on exports and...

News: Investors remain optimistic.(Brief Article)
October 27, 2003... Institutional investors continue to display a sense of optimism ahead of any changes in employment and spending, said professor Ken Froot of Harvard University. Yields on bonds have risen, but not by enough to dissuade investors around the...

News: Equity/bond gap set to narrow as market gears up for rate hike.
October 27, 2003... Pension funds have locked in gains from the recent upturn in equities by tactically shifting back into bonds, according to Robert Stirling, fixed income head at Threadneedle Investments. The movement in assets over the past two weeks may...

News: E336m invested in SRI market.(Socially Responsible Investment Among European Institutional Investors 2003 Report)(Brief Article)
October 27, 2003... European socially responsible investment (SRI) is as high as E336bn (GBP234.4m). The European Sustainable and Responsible Investment Forum (Eurosif), which calculated the number, said the figure shows that SRI has already entered the...

Letters: Re: Consultants call for greater Alpha from fund managers (PW 13.10.03).(Brief Article)
October 27, 2003... At Schroders we couldn't agree more. Our clients are learning that they can be more demanding. More and more are asking us for benchmark-unconstrained portfolios and absolute return, portfolios with zero reference to tracking error,...

Governance Watch: You say you want a resolution.(Brief Article)
October 27, 2003... Although the mandatory vote on the remuneration report came into effect this year, Manifest's analysis of the proxy poll data from FTSE 100 company meetings revealed that the average number of resolutions included on meeting notices increased...

Opinion: Leader - Small actions can have a powerful effect.
October 27, 2003... A small action can send a powerful message. Likewise, the failure to act can be an equally strong message. A case in point is the issue of compensation for the members of pensions schemes at companies such as Allied Steel & Wire, Lister &...

Opinion: Investment View - Using flex to fit together the pieces of the pension jigsaw.
October 27, 2003... In an ideal world, how should the pension manager allocate his budget? Managing employee expectations, ensuring the plan receives the best service from providers, keeping trustees and management abreast of latest plan developments and...

Opinion: Inside View - FSA issues authorisation guidance for trustees.(Financial Services Authority)
October 27, 2003... The Financial Services Authority (FSA), which regulates the financial services industry, has recently issued draft guidance on its authorisation requirements for activities relating to pension schemes. Most trustees do not generally give...

Supplement: Equity market - Intro.(Editorial)
October 27, 2003... Pension funds and equities have gone together so closely for the last 50 years or so, that the linkage has almost entered the 'salt and pepper' stage of twinned objects in everyday language. Ever since the 'father of the equity', George...

Supplement: Equity market - Equities are still alive and kicking.
October 27, 2003... The past three years have been distinctly uncomfortable for pension funds. Not only did the value of their equity-based assets decline, but the cost of financing deficits increased as long gilt yields also dropped. For good measure, the new...

Supplement: Equity market - In pursuit of higher returns: the importance of alpha.
October 27, 2003... Setting the right investment strategy is arguably one of the most important investment decisions that trustees and their advisers can make. Indeed, many believe that it's more critical to pension scheme returns than the individual selection of...

Supplement: Equity market - Manager profile - Morley Fund Management is.(Company Profile)
October 27, 2003... Company background Morley Fund Management is a global asset management house with over 30 years experience in managing segregated and pooled pension funds for a wide and diverse range of clients. With in excess of GBP112bn* of assets under...

Supplement: Equity market - Manager profile - Mellon.(Mellon Global Investments)(Mellon Financial Corp.)(Company Profile)
October 27, 2003... Mellon - a unique asset management model Founded in 1869, with headquarters in Pittsburgh, Mellon Financial Corporation (Mellon) is today one of the world's leading providers of financial services to corporations, institutions and affluent...

Feature: Short stay parking for money markets.
October 27, 2003... With trustees under growing pressure to squeeze the last ounce of value from their pension funds, money market funds are increasing in popularity. Not as an asset class in its own right, but more as a convenient place to park cash on a...

People on the move: Third-party admin man Griffiths takes on chief IO role at Axa IM.(Brief Article)
October 27, 2003... Axa Investment Managers (Axa IM) has announced that Paul Griffiths is to be its new UK chief investment officer. Griffiths' main duties will be to develop third-party business and consultant relations, as well as looking after the company's...

People on the move: Watson wins finance chief job at Morley.(Brief Article)
October 27, 2003... Morley Fund Management has appointed David Watson as its chief financial officer, pending regulatory approval. He will also take a position on Morley's board and will have particular responsibility for the finance, compliance, business risk...

People on the move: Lloyd moves into director post at MLIM's UK base.(David Lloyd)(Merrill Lynch Investment Managers)(Brief Article)
October 27, 2003... Merrill Lynch Investment Managers (MLIM) has appointed David Lloyd as director of the MLIM global fixed income team in London. Lloyd will start at MLIM on 12 November and will report to Russell Maddox, who is head of a fixed income team...

People on the move: Brumby adds to CSAM responsibilities.(Credit Suisse Asset Management)(Richard Brumby)(Brief Article)
October 27, 2003... Richard Brumby is to be Credit Suisse Asset Management's (CSAM) new corporate governance officer, based in London. As well as continuing his position as director of charitable funds at CSAM, Brumby will also be responsible for ensuring all...

People on the move: Fixed income Farrell moves to Investec.(Andrew Farrell)(Brief Article)
October 27, 2003... Investec has named Andrew Farrell as its head of fixed income following Paul Griffiths' departure to Axa Investment Managers (see story above left). Farrell used to be head of fixed income at Invesco, as did Griffiths, with a focus on UK...

News Just In... : Pooled funds post positive returns.(Brief Article)
October 27, 2003... Further upbeat news about pension scheme investment returns emerged last week when Russell Mellon/CAPS, the performance measurer, revealed that pooled balanced funds posted a median return of 3.9% for July to September. This is positive...

News Just In... : Gartmore launches healthcare fund.(AlphaGen Arneb Fund)(Gartmore Investment Management Ltd.)(Brief Article)
October 27, 2003... Gartmore Investment Management has launched its first healthcare hedge fund which will be made available to European and US institutional investors at the start of next month. The AlphaGen Arneb Fund has been seeded since December 2001 and...

News Just In... : One in three under-35s providing a nest egg.(Brief Article)
October 27, 2003... Only one in every three under-30s are putting money aside for retirement, according to the National Consumer Council (NCC). Research by the NCC found that the majority of under-35s believe saving for retirement is a burden, and they have...