Pensions Week articles from October 2007

Pensions Week archives from October 2007

News: Pension Corp denies feud with GEC fund.
October 1, 2007... Byline: Ryan Harrison Edmund Truell has hit back at reports that his Pension Corporation's GBP400m bid for telecoms equipment maker Telent sparked a row with the trustees of the GEC pension fund. Truell said a "cordial" relationship...

News: Putnam drops Puddle in it after 15 years.
October 1, 2007... Byline: Gill Wadsworth Putnam Investments has made its director of institutional clients redundant after 15 years' service. David Puddle, who was based in London, had his role terminated in August, but had been unable to comment due to...

This week: Feedback will not fall on deaf ears.
October 1, 2007... Byline: Gill Wadsworth, Editor, Pensions Week I am not sure many people equate insurance with fairness. Indeed, when your car is insured for several thousand pounds, is then stolen, wrapped around a tree on Woolwich common by the local...

News: PPF shakes up risk model for lifeboat.
October 1, 2007... Byline: Gill Wadsworth The Pension Protection Fund (PPF) has unveiled plans for fairer levies based on 'catastrophe' risk and extreme events. Building on the clearer picture of the UK's pension funding situation, which has been...

News: Pension funds boosted by banking crisis.
October 1, 2007... Byline: Hannah Williams UK pension funds have profited from the recent banking crisis, with schemes back in surplus despite a reported crisis in confidence, consultants said. Figures from Aon Consulting found funding levels had risen...

News: OPT offers alternative on buyout bandwagon.
October 1, 2007... Byline: Hannah Williams Competition in the burgeoning buyout market is growing fiercer, with the arrival of another entrant looking to take on pension liabilities. The Occupational Pensions Trust (OPT), headed by industry veteran...

News: Lack of contingent assets costs dearly.
October 1, 2007... Byline: Gill Wadsworth A lack of innovation in contingent assets means UK corporates are incurring unnecessary Pension Protection Fund levies, industry sources claimed. Neville McKay, managing director at Morgan Stanley, said...

News in Brief.
October 1, 2007... Multi-employer pension schemes have avoided hefty fines for closing their plans to future accrual following a government backtrack on debt regulation. The Department for Work and Pensions said it was never its intention to affect...

News: PPF risks jeopardising fairness with levies.
October 1, 2007... Byline: Hannah Williams The Pension Protection Fund (PPF) will flout its first principle of fairness if proposals to calculate levies a year in advance go ahead, actuaries warned. The PPF had proposed bringing forward the measurement...

News: Majority of firms failing staff on age discrimination.
October 1, 2007... Byline: David Ricketts More than half of employers have failed to bring their pension plans in line with age discrimination rules, and could face levelling-up their pension benefits, lawyers warned. Eversheds said 55% of firms surveyed...

News: Letter.
October 1, 2007... "Steve Bee's article 'demystifying' final salary pension payments (PW 10.09.07) is likely to add to the confusion about the options for money purchase pensioners due to a glaring error. He writes that some people are required to purchase an...

News: Two-thirds of plans miss deficit targets.
October 1, 2007... Byline: Ryan Harrison Tony Hobman has played down figures that revealed two-thirds of defined benefit (DB) schemes' plans to eliminate deficits have triggered action from the Pensions Regulator. The watchdog's chief executive said...

News: Doubt cast over actuarial assumptions.
October 1, 2007... Byline: David Ricketts Only a small number of trustees have total faith in the actuarial assumptions of their scheme, buyout firm Paternoster warned. Research by the firm revealed just 14% of respondents had complete confidence in the...

News in Brief.
October 1, 2007... The GBP6bn HBOS pension scheme has retained Watson Wyatt as its scheme actuary and ongoing pension adviser following a formal tendering process. The scheme, which was formed last year following the merger of four defined benefit pension...

News: Default funds still favoured by 80%.
October 1, 2007... Byline: David Ricketts Despite two-thirds of companies encouraging their employees to move away from default funds, a vast majority of scheme members still shy away from making active investment decisions, a survey has found. ...

News: Government's record slammed at conference.(Conference news)
October 1, 2007... The Conservative Party has marked its first fringe event at the Labour party conference with an attack on the government's handling of the Northern Rock crisis, and the treatment of the 125,000 pensions wind-up victims. Chris Grayling,...

News: Aberdeen makes move into Russia.
October 1, 2007... Byline: Ryan Harrison Aberdeen Property Investors has continued its drive into Eastern European real estate with the launch of its Russian property fund, its fourth in the sector to date in 2007. The firm plans to invest GBP1bn in...

News: O'Brien urged to drive risk sharing.
October 1, 2007... Byline: Hannah Williams Leading actuaries are set to confront the government and push for a legislative overhaul to promote risk sharing. The Association of Consulting Actuaries (ACA) will meet with Mike O'Brien, minister for pensions...

News: Pension funds propel demand for derivatives.
October 1, 2007... Byline: Ryan Harrison Pension fund appetite for derivatives as a tool to hedge risk has continued to soar over the last year, research has found. Watson Wyatt said the value of over-the-counter (OTC) transactions completed this year...

News: Royal London up 71% year-on-year.
October 1, 2007... Byline: Ryan Harrison Royal London has posted bumper profit gains for the first half of 2007, as a result of favourable investment markets and strong performance from its asset management arm. Royal London's profit before tax until...

Curent Affairs: "There are many players within global equities, but we are not a 'me too' manager ".
October 1, 2007... Byline: Gill Wadsworth Unconstrained mandates are all the rage in the UK institutional market place as pension schemes seek out genuine active management to boost flagging funds. This search for extra alpha has been a boon for...

Current Affairs: Employers will level down to 3%.
October 1, 2007... Byline: Frank Field Three important trends jump out of the latest report from the Association of Consulting Actuaries (ACA) on contribution rates. The ACA has looked at contributions for the five years up to 2007. Final salary schemes are...

The Insider: Personal view - Battling the financial pressures of today means tomorrow's must wait.
October 1, 2007... Byline: David Bird One of the fundamental effects of the widespread movement from defined benefit (DB) to defined contribution (DC) pension schemes is a transfer of responsibility. Whereas DB schemes were often considered a complete...

The Insider: Technical view - Trustees' multidisciplinary mantra.
October 1, 2007... Byline: Debbie Harrison The imperative for trustees of UK defined benefit (DB) pension schemes to understand and embrace complex funding and investment issues has turned the spotlight on the available sources of advice. As the boundary...

Industry Watch: Governance - US investors fight to protect proxy access.
October 1, 2007... Byline: Tom Powdrill Once in a while, an issue comes along that galvanises investor opinion around a particular cause. Sometimes it's company-specific, like remuneration at GlaxoSmithkline back in 2003, sometimes it's policy-driven, like...

Industry Watch: Notice board - NAPF seminars and events.(Conference news)(Calendar)
October 1, 2007... NAPF/PMI trustee conference 2007 Pressing problems, practical solutions - November 8, One Great George Street, Westminster. As the legislative environment surrounding pensions changes and becomes more complex, the role of a pension...

Industry Watch: View from the bridge.
October 1, 2007... Byline: Norman Russell Legalese Although it is a while since this column changed its title from 'Ombudsman watch' to 'View from the bridge', I do still keep an eye open for interesting pensions ombudsman decisions. The decisions...

Pensions workout: Intermediate - Money market funds intermediate level.
October 1, 2007... Institutional investors are warming to money market funds across Europe; assets held in these funds have risen from under GBP500m in 1995 to GBP210bn in June 2007. More recently, market volatility has shown many institutions the value of...

Special Focus: Introduction.
October 1, 2007... Byline: Gill Wadsworth Sticking with the familiar might feel safer but in the world of investment, stepping out of your comfort zone can often lead to better performance. For UK pension funds, the need to leave behind their reliance on...

Special Focus: Pursuing the global trend.
October 1, 2007... Pension funds have been switching away from UK equities and into international equities almost since the phrase 'global village' was first coined by P Wyndham Lewis when he wrote about "the earth becoming one big village, with telephones laid...

Special Focus: Taking the global view.
October 1, 2007... Over the past few years as pension fund investors have embraced the idea of matching assets with liabilities, a greater appreciation has emerged of the importance of maximising long-term risk-adjusted returns. This, in turn, has sparked...

Special Focus: Company focus - A word from the sponsor...(Company overview)
October 1, 2007... Background Threadneedle was founded in 1994 and manages more than GBP68bn* of assets. Offering successful investment solutions is its only business, and many types of clients worldwide now benefit from its informed decision making,...

Roundtable - Gill Wadsworth: How do fund-of-funds work?(Discussion)
October 1, 2007... Byline: Gill Wadsworth Ed Francis: Fund-of-funds is a way of packaging a portfolio of funds, so investors can access a diverse range of investment vehicles that they would otherwise have to go out and appoint themselves. It is a way of...

On the move: ProTrust expands and rebrands with Johnson.
October 1, 2007... Byline: David Ricketts Trustee search firm ProTrust has hired Mercer veteran David Johnson, as it looks to ramp up expertise on its consultancy business. Johnson, who has over 30 years' experience as an actuary, and has advised...

On the move: Going places.
October 1, 2007... SWIP boosts US equity team Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP) has strengthened its global developed markets team with the appointment of two US equity specialists. Nick Ford and Simon Moss, currently investment directors at...

On the move: Top 4 moves.
October 1, 2007... 01 - Peter Scales OLD - Retired former London Pensions Fund Authority chief executive NEW - Chairman of Enhanced Analytics Initiative Tel: 020 7307 5330 02 - Ian Barnes, Ben Mooney and Chris Martin OLD - Barnes moves from...

News: PAG: Hain says wind-up was 'robbery'.
October 8, 2007... Byline: Ryan Harrison Peter Hain has broken ranks with Labour party policy over the treatment of pension wind-up victims, admitting the government committed "daylight robbery", it was claimed. In a meeting to discuss the 125,000 people...

News: Freeman joins Hymans from competitor JLT.
October 8, 2007... Byline: David Ricketts Jardine Lloyd Thompson (JLT) has lost senior investment consultant Mark Freeman to rival Hymans Robertson, PW has learned. Freeman is set to transfer across to Hymans' London office at the end of October. ...

This week: It's not that easy bein' green.
October 8, 2007... Byline: Hannah Williams, Features editor, Pensions Week It's never nice when you know you should do something, want to get it done but haven't quite got round to it, before some interfering busybody starts checking up on you and exposes...

News: Siemens staff set to strike over DB closure.
October 8, 2007... Byline: Hannah Williams Staff at electrical giant Siemens are preparing for strike action following the announced closure of the company's GBP2.5bn final salary pension scheme. Union members from Unite voted 80% in favour of industrial...

News: Watson Wyatt pushes forward average scheme.
October 8, 2007... Byline: David Ricketts Watson Wyatt's proposal to replace future final salary benefits with a career average package for its staff underlines an inevitable industry shift felt by all pension plans, the firm's consultancy peers have said....

News: Most 'ethical' companies' schemes cagey over SRI.
October 8, 2007... Byline: Hannah Williams More than half of pension schemes whose sponsoring companies are listed on an index of ethical firms refused to publish information about responsible investment practices. The study, carried out by the UK Social...

News: One fifth say DB cannot be saved.
October 8, 2007... One in five defined benefit (DB) pension schemes believe it is too late to save DB, and there is nothing the government can do to halt their decline, the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) said. In a survey of DB schemes worth...

News in Brief.
October 8, 2007... Companies are committed to funding pensions for their staff, despite the effects on competitiveness and investment, a survey suggested. Research by theConfederation of British Insurers and Watson Wyatt revealed 54% of companies reported...

News: Shell's pension holiday will calm scheme fears.
October 8, 2007... Byline: David Ricketts Shell UK's decision to suspend contributions to its scheme has eased other firms' nervousness that taking a pensions holiday would spark adverse publicity, consultants said. Paul McGlone, principal and actuary...

News: Real impact of age discrimination laws requires evidence.
October 8, 2007... Byline: Ryan Harrison The government's handling of age discrimination laws has faced sharp criticism, following the launch of a consultation document aimed at dousing fears over the future of flexible retirement. The Department for...

News: Revised levy calculation dates welcomed.
October 8, 2007... Byline: Hannah Williams Plans from the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) to rethink changes to the timing of risk measurements have been welcomed by consultants. The PPF had proposed bringing forward the measurement date for factors used...

News: Grayling accused of 'fantasy financing'.
October 8, 2007... Byline: Ryan Harrison The Labour Party has branded Chris Grayling's rescue pledge to the 125,000 pensions victims of bust companies as 'fantasy financing', as the Tories pushed for support on their pensions policy at the annual conference...

News: Pension provision smothered by law.
October 8, 2007... Byline: Hannah Williams UK pension provision is being strangled by outdated legal procedure, industry veteran Robin Ellison has warned. The former chairman of the National Association of Pension Funds told PW the industry had become...

News in Brief.
October 8, 2007... The Pension Protection Fund has urged schemes to have their risk valuations with the lifeboat by the end of March next year. The reminder follows reports from consultants that 50% of schemes were yet to submit information, around 3,500...

News: Trustees grapple with decision making.
October 8, 2007... Byline: Ryan Harrison A third of trustees are still struggling to get to grips with their scheme's investment decisions, as pressure mounts to bounce back from the recent volatility in global markets, research found. Hymans Robertson...

News: Property-funded retirees need to diversify assets.
October 8, 2007... Byline: David Ricketts People relying solely on property investments to fund their retirement are at risk from volatile housing markets, Barings Asset Management has warned. The company found 3.2 million people in Britain are planning...

News: Defined benefit puts savers at ease.
October 8, 2007... Byline: Hannah Williams Almost half the members of defined benefit (DB) pension arrangements in the UK feel confident about their retirement income, despite saving concerns from 50% of Britons overall. The Pensions Report 2007 found...

News: DB schemes face an inconclusive future.
October 8, 2007... Byline: Hannah Williams Fresh figures from the Pensions Policy Institute (PPI) have painted a bleak picture for defined benefit provision, with 60% of schemes now closed to new members. The research found only 26% of scheme members in...

News: DWP delays ACA risk-sharing talks at the last minute.
October 8, 2007... Byline: Hannah Williams The crusade to overturn legislation on risk-sharing and make the strategy more widely available has suffered a setback as ministers pulled out of discussions at the eleventh hour. Mike O'Brien, minister for...

News: PR firm offers trustees M&A guidance.
October 8, 2007... Byline: Ryan Harrison Penrose Financial has targeted trustees with advice to help them maximise relations with the media following a flurry of schemes hiring dedicated press teams during negotiations on future funding and merger and...

Current affairs: Robin Ellison.
October 8, 2007... Byline: Hannah Williams Q: What do you think about the current proposals for personal accounts? A: In theory, you can't really argue about them, but the risks for government are really high. First of all, the precedents for big state...

Current affairs: The nature of distorting data.
October 8, 2007... Byline: Raj Mody We are only human - a phrase often used to excuse an error or oversight. The trouble is that, as humans, we are programmed to err. Science proves it. Behavioural finance is the field of research that observes how human...

The insider: Personal view - Schemes have little time to delay with member- nominated trustees.
October 8, 2007... Byline: Nick Boyes After years of delays and regulatory loopholes the time is up for pension schemes without sufficient member-nominated trustees (MNTs) on their boards. On October 31, 2007, all opt-outs from the MNT regulations come to an...

The insider: Technical view - Trustees on the front foot: risk.
October 8, 2007... Byline: Rachel Brougham Since April 2005, trustees have been required to have internal controls in place for managing their schemes, and the Pensions Regulator advocates a risk management approach to achieving this. Although the...

Industry watch: Governance - The fine line between a good job and a jobsworth.
October 8, 2007... Byline: Tom Powdrill If there is one thing companies hate in corporate governance, it's a 'box- ticking' approach, particularly to shareholder voting. Rather like political correctness, it is often something people are very clear they...

Industry watch: Notice board - NAPF events and seminars.
October 8, 2007... National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) annual corporate governance seminar, 27 November, One Great George Street, Westminster. This one-day seminar highlights the issues at the heart of corporate governance and looks at what the...

Industry watch: View from the bridge.
October 8, 2007... Byline: Norman Russell Section 75 Two weeks ago, I wrote about a Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) consultation paper proposing changes to the section 75 (debt on the employer) law relating to multi-employer schemes. Since then,...

Pensions workout: Advanced - Money market funds - Advanced level.
October 8, 2007... Over the past two weeks, we have seen how money market funds are put together and how they responded to the recent period of bond market volatility - which also gave us the opportunity to highlight differences between treasury-style and...

Special Focus: Introduction.
October 8, 2007... Byline: Ryan Harrison, News editor, Pensions Week The noise around class actions is growing in the UK pensions industry, and a few major players have put their money where their mouths are and filed lawsuits against alleged wrongdoers in...

Special Focus: A case in point.
October 8, 2007... Byline: Ryan Harrison There is a paradox about class action lawsuits in the UK. Pension schemes are reluctant to get involved due to fear of the unknown or lack of education, but one of the best ways to learn the ropes of legal procedures...

Special Focus: Bringing firms to book.
October 8, 2007... Byline: David R Scott The US Congress, by adopting the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (PSLRA), revised the US securities laws to require that injured investors meet higher pleading standards when filing securities fraud...

Special Focus: Company focus - A word from the sponsor...
October 8, 2007... Background Scott + Scott is a US law firm with offices in New York, Connecticut, Ohio and California, as well as affiliates in Washington DC, and Geneva. The firm represents individual and institutional investors who have suffered from...

On the move: BlackRock team hires Humphries.
October 8, 2007... Byline: David Ricketts BlackRock has appointed Rosina Humphries to its global consultant relations team, where she will manage a number of relationships with various UK investment consultants. Humphries, who will be based with the...

On the move: Going places.
October 8, 2007... Ilott brings strong track record to Fidelity Fidelity International has recruited Paul Ilott to join its multi-manager business. With 20 years' experience in financial services, Ilott will help drive client communication strategy for...

On the move: Top 4 moves.
October 8, 2007... 01 - David Johnson OLD - Mercer, where he advised organisations including Tesco and the National Association of Pension Funds NEW - He joins ProTrust as a consulting director Tel: 020 7645 8730 02 - Nick Ford and Simon Moss...

News: O'Brien slams overblown legal advice.
October 15, 2007... Byline: Gill Wadsworth The government has accused the legal profession of exaggerating pension legislation and caring more about protecting their insurance policies than guiding trustees. Mike O'Brien, minister for pensions reform,...

News: Hewitt bags rival's talent.
October 15, 2007... Byline: Gill Wadsworth Hewitt Associates has poached the head of Psolve's investment consulting business marking its seventh hire in the past four months. Zuhair Mohammed joins Hewitt's investment consulting team after a two-year...

News: This week - There's nowhere to hide.
October 15, 2007... Byline: Gill Wadsworth, Editor, Pensions Week Pensions Week was treated to an audience with minister for pensions reform, Mike O'Brien, last week at his offices just off Parliament Square. Flanked by two press officers, O'Brien faced a...

News: PAs could do lethal damage to pensions.
October 15, 2007... Byline: Ryan Harrison Alan Pickering has issued a fresh assault on the viability of the government's personal accounts, despite new figures revealing the system has strong consumer support. The author of the 2002 report into pensions...

News: DB beats DC in the member payment race.
October 15, 2007... Byline: Ryan Harrison Contributions to defined benefit (DB) pension schemes have raced ahead of their defined contribution (DC) counterparts over the last two years, research has revealed. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) found...

News: Trustees to choose DC funds or end up in PAs.
October 15, 2007... Byline: Hannah Williams Trustees of defined contribution (DC) schemes could be forced to make investment decisions for members or be swept into personal accounts. According to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), employers...

News: The future could be in risk-sharing.
October 15, 2007... Byline: Hannah Williams Risk-sharing could be the answer to future pension funding problems, according to UK schemes. Figures from a Pensions Week poll showed 69% of pension funds felt splitting risks more evenly between employers and...

News in Brief.
October 15, 2007... Research by Legal & General into personal accounts has revealed nearly half of people would choose to stay enrolled in them when they are introduced in 2012. A third of people taking part said they would opt out, while one in five said...

News: Inherited pensions hit with higher tax.
October 15, 2007... Byline: Hannah Williams Tax tweaks in the pre-Budget report have received a mixed response from the pensions industry, with providers warning hefty charges could dampen savings. Chancellor Alistair Darling warned all tax-relieved...

News: Other key pension outcomes from the PBR.
October 15, 2007... Byline: Hannah Williams - The state second pension is to become a weekly top-up to the basic state pension by 2030, with amendments beginning in 2009. According to the Conservative party, the original deadline for this reform was around...

News: DWP closes online tool to majority.
October 15, 2007... Byline: Hannah Williams Workers set to retire after 2010 have been blocked from using the state pension online calculator to forecast potential benefits. The BR19 form from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), which is used to...

News: Firms fail to guide employees' choices.
October 15, 2007... Byline: David Ricketts UK companies are still failing to address the Pensions Regulator's guidance on empowering scheme members to make solid retirement choices, potentially exposing them to unnecessary risk, consultants warned. A...

News: WHSmith profits as DB scheme closes.(Financial report)
October 15, 2007... Byline: Ryan Harrison Unions have dampened WH-Smith's 29% profit rise for the year with an attack on its decision to scrap final salary benefits for employees. Despite a drop in total revenue and sales on the high street, WHSmith saw...