Pensions Week articles from September 2002

Pensions Week archives from September 2002

News: Goodwin for transsexual rights.(Brief Article)
September 2, 2002... Pension schemes face a string of discrimination claims following a recent landmark court ruling on the rights of transsexuals. Trustees have been urged to review their scheme rules and actuarial valuations to avoid legal disputes. The...

News: NEDs need to flex their muscles, say NAPF and TUC.(non-executive directors, National Association of Pension Funds, Trades Union Congress)(Brief Article)
September 2, 2002... The government is coming under mounting pressure from pension funds and unions to create a more powerful cadre of non-executive directors (NEDs) in the UK after a series of embarrassing corporate governance failures in recent years. The...

News: ECJ rulings under fire.(European Court of Justice)(Brief Article)
September 2, 2002... The chairman of the Association of Pension Lawyers (APL) has attacked the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for creating confusion in the legal system through short and complex judgments. APL chairman David Pollard said it was difficult for...

News: Martin follows Beckmann to Europe.
September 2, 2002... A scheme member has taken his case to European Court of Justice (ECJ) to have his pension rights recognised upon redundancy following the Beckmann ruling earlier this year. The case - known as Martin v South Bank University - is due to be...

News: Greenwich fund up for grabs.(Greenwich pension fund)(Brief Article)
September 2, 2002... The London Borough of Greenwich pension fund has placed its entire GBP480m portfolio out to tender following the completion of an asset liability study. The fund is currently managed by Schroder Investment Management and Deutsche Asset...

News: Pirc calls for compulsory green audits.(Pensions Investment Research Council )(Brief Article)
September 2, 2002... Compulsory ethical reporting that is more structured and independent is essential to boost socially responsible investment by funds, a pensions research organisation claimed last week. According to the Pensions Investment Research Council...

News: LPFA costs soar 20% as workload explodes.(London Pensions Fund Authority)(Brief Article)
September 2, 2002... Operating costs at one of the UK's largest local authority pension funds soared by 20% in the last financial year and its workload increased by more than a third. The GBP2.8bn London Pensions Fund Authority (LPFA) last week reported...

News: Merrills upbeat on European equities as credit spreads begin to narrow.(Merrill Lynch and Company Inc.)(Brief Article)
September 2, 2002... Narrower European high grade corporate bond spreads during August point to a recovery in equity valuations, claimed a major investment house. Merrill Lynch said that corporate bond spreads narrowed by 11 basis points (bp) in the first...

News: Siri doubles SRI reach to meet demand.(Sustainable Investment Research International Group)(Brief Article)
September 2, 2002... The Sustainable Investment Research International (SiRi) Group is doubling its analysis of international companies to 1,000 global corporations. Philippe Spicher, chair of the SiRi Group and director of Swiss-based Centre Info SA, said:...

News: Sting in the tale - Counting the costs.(Brief Article)
September 2, 2002... When pension policies are sold it is very important that the people buying them are made fully aware of the costs associated with running and distributing them. These costs can be quite high and both the government and the regulators are very...

News: Employers hit back at TUC small scheme slam.(Trades Union Congress)(Brief Article)
September 2, 2002... Employers have attacked union barons for attempting to stall initiatives that could boost small scheme pension provision through a simpler pensions regime. The employers' offensive came as union representatives slammed small and medium...

News: MPs under fire as pay hike polls come in.(Members of Parliament)(Brief Article)
September 2, 2002... Over one in five people in the UK branded MPs' 20% pensions pay hike a "disgrace", according to a survey last week. Many more people were less vehement in their criticism, believing the money could have been used better elsewhere. As...

News: Ombudsman defends maladministration claims.(Brief Article)
September 2, 2002... Staff shortages created a backlog in cases for the pensions ombudsman's office leading to a 33% drop in productivity last year. The sharp drop in productivity resulted in cases taking much longer to determine. The number of cases receiving...

News: ABI cautiously optimismic over savings.(Association of British Insurers )(Brief Article)
September 2, 2002... The Association of British Insurers (ABI) fears the GBP27bn savings gap will grow, despite a 10% rise in regular premium pension business for individuals in the first half of this year. Last week the ABI unveiled half-year savings figures. The...

News: Corus to meet unions over pensions next week.(Corus Group PLC)(Brief Article)
September 2, 2002... The Anglo-Dutch steel company at the centre of a pensions dispute will be forced to wait until mid-September before crisis talks with employees begin. Corus, which is facing industrial action over its level of pensions contributions, will...

News: R&SA fined record oe1.35m over lax controls and a 23% shortfall in mis- selling cases.(Royal and SunAlliance Insurance Group PLC)(Brief Article)
September 2, 2002... The financial regulator handed out the first seven figure pensions mis- selling fine in its history last week, sending out a clear message to pensions providers to get their houses in order. Life insurer Royal & Sun Alliance (R&SA) was...

News: PMI to set the pension challenge.(Pensions Management Institute )(Brief Article)
September 2, 2002... The Pensions Management Institute (PMI) holds its Autumn conference, Challenging Pensions Mythology, in London next Friday (13 September). David Coats, head of economic & social affairs at the Trades Union Congress (TUC), discusses whether...

News: FSA aims to trim hedge fund rules.(Financial Services Authority)(Brief Article)
September 2, 2002... The financial regulator has asked the hedge fund industry for its views on whether control and regulation of the market is too stringent. In a discussion paper, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) is seeking the views of industry and...

Funds feeling gilty in flight to safety.(Brief Article)
September 2, 2002... Fall out from corporate disasters such as Enron and WorldCom pushed pension funds into the safety of gilts and cash in July and away from corporate bonds. According to figures from the Investment Managers Association (IMA), gross sales of...

News: SPC brokers Revenue re-think.(Society of Pension Consultants)(Brief Article)
September 2, 2002... The Inland Revenue has updated its rules on administration of pension schemes following a meeting with the Society of Pension Consultants (SPC). The Revenue said a broker could now receive a transfer cheque when there was immediate vesting...

News: Early retirees striking it rich.(Brief Article)
September 2, 2002... Early retirement does not mean a poorer lifestyle, a new report claimed this week. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation report disputes a view held by many that those working up to the state retirement age would be best off. Perversely, the...

News: Ombudsman Watch.(pension funds)(Brief Article)
September 2, 2002... Guidelines on share options The institutional investor guidelines apply to all forms of share incentive arrangements operated by listed companies. The two main bodies that represent the interests of institutional investors are the...

News analysis: Gad pensions figures - Pensions not being served.(Brief Article)
September 2, 2002... The largest 10% of private sector pension schemes account for 59% of total private sector scheme assets, according to the latest pensions health check from the Government Actuary's Department (Gad). Every five years, Gad surveys...

Governance Watch: Non-executive relief.(Brief Article)
September 2, 2002... The consultation period ends this Friday for Derek Higgs' review of the role of non-executive directors. It has been suggested that independent but also informed, experienced and outspoken non-executive directors prepared to question the...

Opinion: Leader - Time to burst the ballooning savings gap.(Brief Article)
September 2, 2002... The need to take the unfair risks out of pension fund investment through a wide-arching insurance scheme has never been greater. Last week the pensions mis-selling swindle of a decade or more ago pricked the public's consciousness again as...

Opinion: Property View - Every asset class has its day.(Brief Article)
September 2, 2002... To say that God moves in mysterious ways would be an understatement in the present environment. With extreme volatility in the equity markets resulting in confused investors seeing the value of their assets falling at an alarming rate, it is...

Opinion: Letter from Asia - Poised to power ahead.(Brief Article)
September 2, 2002... Although a shift in global economic expectations has depressed global equities, several positive fundamental issues helped Asian equity markets to outperform most global peers. We believe that Asia remains well placed to reaccelerate once the...

Opinion: Letters - The answer won't be found without debate.(Brief Article)
September 2, 2002... As chairman of the Pensions Research Accounting Group (PRAG) working party, responsible for the revision of the statement of recommended practice Financial Reports of Pension Schemes, I'd like to respond to the report two weeks ago (PW 19.8.02)...

Opinion: Letters - Gearing up for September dramas.(Brief Article)
September 2, 2002... The old stock market strategy of going away in May and coming back in the Autumn has served investors well again this year. At the end of April the FTSE-100 stood at 5,166, while as of last Wednesday it closed at 4,274 (a fall of 17.3% in just...

Special Report: A helping hand in tough times.
September 2, 2002... Private Fraser was often known to tell Captain Manwaring that "We're doomed, we're doomed" when he was in Dad's Army. Thankfully Private Fraser's predictions rarely came true - so he's clearly more of an economist than an actuary. For many...

Special Report: Troubles brew at the town hall.(on defined benefit pension schemes)(Brief Article)
September 2, 2002... Recently, considerable publicity has been given to companies' decisions to close defined benefit (DB) pension schemes to new members or even, in some cases, to wind up existing schemes and switch to a defined contribution (DC) arrangement for...

Special Report: Riders on the storm.(Brief Article)
September 2, 2002... I like to think of local authority pension provision (circa 1999) as a 30- year old fishing boat moored up a sheltered creek. It had a few problems - some demographic stresses and scheme maturity strains - but on a clear summer's day its...

Route to the top: Bringing the best out of people.(Brief Article)
September 2, 2002... Roy Gillson's position as chief investment officer at AXA Investment Managers is the culmination of 30 years in the financial services industry. The journey there has afforded him a unique insight into the workings of the fund management...

People on the move: Burgess leaves his mark on Amex.(Mark Burgess, American Express Asset Management)(Brief Article)
September 2, 2002... American Express Asset Management (Amex) has replaced Mark Fawcett with Mark Burgess as chief investment officer after Fawcett left the manager. Burgess joined Amex in August 2001 as deputy chief investment officer and head of European...

People on the move: Bamberry's top of the smalls.(Brief Article)
September 2, 2002... Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP) has appointed Christopher Bamberry as UK smaller companies investment manager. He will report to SWIP investment director for UK equities Gregor Macdonald. Bamberry will be the lead small cap...

People on the move: Mould to shape Momentum.(Paul Mould, Momentum Group)(Brief Article)
September 2, 2002... Independent financial adviser (IFA) and pensions specialist Momentum has appointed Paul Mould as a new financial services director. He will lead the IFA's financial services team in the company's Farnborough office. Mould trained as a...

People on the move: Pinsents strikes gold with Ellison.(Pinsent Curtis Biddle, Robin Ellison)(Brief Article)
September 2, 2002... Law firm Pinsent Curtis Biddle has appointed Robin Ellison to the new position of head of strategic development, pensions. The appointment is a major coup for the firm and Ellison will play a pivotal role in the development of the pensions...

People on the move: Gill and Herbert join MIC.(Chris Gill)(Steve Herbert)(Mercer Investment Consulting)(Brief Article)
September 2, 2002... Mercer Investment Consulting has expanded its UK team with two new arrivals. Chris Gill has become a European principal and senior consultant, responsible for manager research and a portfolio of clients. He was previously group head of...

People on the move: My first job - Caroline Mitchell, European principal, Mercer Human Resource Consulting.(Brief Article)
September 2, 2002... What was your first job? I was a credit controller in the credit card division of a major bank. It involved withdrawing the card facility from people who had exceeded their credit limits, collecting overdue accounts and investigating...

Whistle Blower: Retired? Join the sea cadets.(Brief Article)
September 2, 2002... So you've sorted out your pension, bought some life insurance and are looking forward to a good 20 years or so of relaxing after years of work and toil, but have you done your will? The latest edition of Rosemary Brown's Your Retirement:...

Whistle Blower: Life is cheap while booze prices soar.(Brief Article)
September 2, 2002... Last week the Wb bunker received a press release from Virgin Money excitedly claiming "life is cheap - and getting cheaper". Wb was curious - did this mean the bunker could be sold off and he could afford a more spacious war room? Or that a...

Whistle Blower: A reason to commit treason.(Brief Article)
September 2, 2002... Have you ever wanted to commit treason, kill your partner or breach the Official Secrets Acts but were worried it would cost you a pension? Well not to worry, the Association of Pension Lawyers' latest quarterly journal contains a useful...

News Just In...: Caterpillar crawls into MIC fee flop.(Brief Article)
September 2, 2002... Attempts by a major investment consultant to promote performance-related fees have fallen flat on their face as UK pension funds shun them. Mercer Investment Consulting (MIC) launched a performance measurement service, incorporating...

News Just In...: MLIM's Utermann Dresdner bound.(Merrill Lynch Investment Managers)(Brief Article)
September 2, 2002... Merrill Lynch Investment Managers (MLIM) has lost its chief investment officer and global head of equities in the latest in a line of high profile defections. Andreas Utermann has left MLIM to join Allianz Dresdner Asset Management as...

News Just In...: Trustees under spotlight at ICI.(Imperial Chemical Industries PLC)(Brief Article)
September 2, 2002... Unpaid trustees at a major chemical company's pension fund are to come under scrutiny as the scheme attempts to comply with the Myners principles on performance measurement. The company also plans to turn up the heat on its investment...

News: Sorry Surrey in 800K pounds sterling cash call.(Surrey County Council, UK)(Brief Article)
September 9, 2002... The council with the worst local authority pension fund deficit in the UK is demanding an extra GBP800,000 from an employer to make up a scheme shortfall. The GBP1bn Surrey County Council pension fund, which has a pensions gap of GBP328m,...

News: Opra get ready to police pensions post-Pickering.(Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority of the UK, Alan Pickering)(Brief Article)
September 9, 2002... Pensions simplification guru Alan Pickering last week said he was confident the government would listen to his calls for a more proactive pensions regulator when the regulators' quinquennial review is concluded. Pickering said that his...

News: Putnam in Euro coo as Cohen leaves Scudder.(Stephen Cohen)(Brief Article)
September 9, 2002... Stephen Cohen has been appointed Putnam Investments' director of European Sales and Business Development. He will lead Putnam's European institutional and retail sales efforts and will be based in the company's London office. Cohen has...

News: SRI winners and losers revealed as returns shine.(socially responsible investments)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
September 9, 2002... Institutional investors are about to witness major changes in ethical indices as socially responsible investment (SRI) shows signs of delivering on returns. Last week, benchmark provider Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes (DJSI) announced...

News: Zurich cuts jobs as losses hit oe1bn.(Brief Article)
September 9, 2002... Europe's third-biggest insurer plans to slash thousands of jobs after it revealed more than GBP1bn worth of losses in the first half of the year. Zurich Financial said 4,500 jobs would go this year, including around 2,000 in the UK, as it...

News: Pru joins list of with-profits bonus cutters.(Prudential Insurance Company of America, Friends Provident, Norwich Union)(Brief Article)
September 9, 2002... The Prudential has become the latest provider to cut its with-profits bonus payments due to falls in the stock market. Affecting up to 2m policy holders, a cut of around 5% is due to a 2.6% fall in the value of the with-profits funds during...

News: Borders review threatens UBS and Baillie briefs.(Baillie Gifford, UBS Global Asset Management)(Brief Article)
September 9, 2002... UBS Global Asset Management and Baillie Gifford are under threat at the GBP200m Scottish Borders pension fund after it put its bond portfolio up for review. The fund revealed that it intended to appoint a single manager for the GBP44m...

News: Schroders profits down 300% on balanced exodus.(Brief Article)
September 9, 2002... Schroder Investment Management's institutional profits were down by 300% in the past year following a mass exodus from balanced mandates. The global fund manger announced institutional profits of just GBP2.3bn this year compared with a...

News: Holy Jocks rock SRI stocks.(Brief Article)
September 9, 2002... Scotland's clergy put their wallets before their beliefs as a church pension fund investigates the cost of socially responsible investment (SRI) on returns. At a meeting of the Church of Scotland's general assembly, the pension fund...

News: Rothschild quits asset management for more wealth.(Rothschild Group )(Brief Article)
September 9, 2002... Rothschild Group is quitting institutional and retail asset management in favour of private banking and wealth management. The family run business has announced that it will sell its asset management arm, which has GBP13bn of assets under...

News: Brunel builds links with Schroders.(Brunel Holdings, Schroder Investment Management)(Brief Article)
September 9, 2002... Aberdeen Asset Managers has been ditched from an engineering pension fund following the restructuring of its investment arrangements. The GBP146m Brunel Holdings pension fund dropped Aberdeen after it decided to switch a proportion of its...

News: Heath Lambert comes up trumps with SAS scheme.(Brief Article)
September 9, 2002... Mercer Human Resources (MHR) has lost the contract to the Scandinavian Airlines Systems (SAS) pension scheme. MHR lost out to Heath Lambert Consulting to provide full services to the GBP20m final salary scheme. Heath Lambert Consulting...

News: ING outsourcing contract for BoNY.(Brief Article)
September 9, 2002... The Bank of New York has scooped a major outsourcing contract from ING which will see it responsible for ING's clearing services. The Bank of New York will provide ING with international cash equities clearance and settlement operations, as...

News: Left field - Making a contribution.(Brief Article)
September 9, 2002... Shock, horror: yet another final salary scheme is closed to new members. The punch-line of practically all media reports is that workers are being robbed of their pension promise. Is that true? A few facts need to be examined. Occupational...

News: Govt accused of NIC-king from women.(National Insurance Contributions)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
September 9, 2002... Millions of married women have been "ripped-off" to the tune of GBP8bn by the government in the biggest pensions scandal in history, claimed the Liberal Democrats last week. Research released from the House of Commons Library reveals that,...

News: Widowers lose out as legislative change closes 'double provision' loophole.(Brief Article)
September 9, 2002... Widowers lost out in pension benefits last week as the government amended the Pensions Credit Act to equalise treatment between men and women. The amendment of section 18 of the Act will allow a contracted-out deduction to be made in the...

News: RMT steams ahead to strike threat.(Rail Maritime and Transport Union)(Brief Article)
September 9, 2002... A rail workers union has threatened to strike if operating companies close the pension scheme to new members. When the railways were privatised, workers' pensions were partly protected through a cash reserve that allowed them to pay reduced...

News: Double trouble at Caparo Industries.(planning two strikes per week at steelworks)(Brief Article)
September 9, 2002... The industrial dispute at a troubled steel manufacturing company intensified last week after members revealed that they would strike twice a week over the closure of their final salary fund. The beleaguered Caparo Industries steel company...

News: Sharpening up to tackle cost-cutters.(Trades Union Congress)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
September 9, 2002... At the TUC Congress this week pensions will be one of the issues attracting the most attention. In addition to the pensions debate on Monday, this week sees the launch of our campaign Pay Up For Pensions. Our campaign will highlight the...

News: JLT ousts Towers from plastics brief.(Jardine Lloyd Thompson, Towers Perrin)(Brief Article)
September 9, 2002... Jardine Lloyd Thompson (JLT) has been appointed to provide actuarial, consulting and administration services to the Victor International Plastics Limited Associate Benefits Scheme. JLT replaces Towers Perrin at the GBP3m hybrid scheme...

News: Mazars rebrands.(accounting firm to use simpler name in UK, as already in Europe)(Brief Article)
September 9, 2002... Top-five audit firm Mazars Neville Russell has rebranded itself in the UK as Mazars, as it is known overseas. Following the merger between Neville Russell and Mazars & Guerard in 1998, Mazars has a growing small-to-medium enterprise client...

News: Morley boosts European team.(Morley Fund Management)(Brief Article)
September 9, 2002... Morley Fund Management is expanding its European operations with two appointments from rival investment houses. It has poached Alistair Morrison as head of institutional business from Deutsche Asset Management, where he was managing...

News: Consultants berated for inertia.(UK investment consultants)(Brief Article)
September 9, 2002... Gartmore Investment Management blasted UK investment consultants' lethargy as it warned the pensions industry could miss next year's government deadline for improved compliance. The global fund manager criticised consultants for failing to...

News: Philips plans portfolio switch.(Koninklijke Philips Electronics, pension fund portfolio)(Brief Article)
September 9, 2002... The GBP2.9bn Philips Electronics pension fund is to review its entire portfolio during the next three months. The fund will conduct a review of its investment management arrangements and consider whether to reappoint its six incumbent fund...

News: Fifth of Irish DB funds closed in two years.(defined benefit)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
September 9, 2002... More than a quarter of Irish defined benefit (DB) funds will close in the next year, according a survey into Ireland's pension provision published last week. However, the level of Irish DB closures is lagging that found in the UK. The 2002...

News: NAPF takes lead on green paper.(National Association of Pension Funds, pension provision paper)(Brief Article)
September 9, 2002... The National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) has set up a think tank on pension provision to offer solutions to the government prior to the green paper in the autumn. The think tank is made up of NAPF council members and others and...

News: Ombudsman Watch.(Ford Motor Co. case)(Brief Article)
September 9, 2002... Less hassle for trustees? The ombudsman's decision in the Allen case was sufficiently important to report key passages pretty much verbatim in this column (PW 13.5.02). The same goes for last month's Ford determination - made just before...

News Analysis: Corporate nightmares.(corporate governance and corporate directors)(Brief Article)
September 9, 2002... The consultation period for a government-inspired report into the effectiveness of non-executive directors officially closed on Friday. Initial responses from pension funds, unions and fund managers show there are still many inefficiencies on...

Governance Watch: auditing watchdog starts to prowl.(in the UK and European Union)(Brief Article)
September 9, 2002... The accounting profession is aware that in the wake of the US corporate scandals auditors need to have public credibility. The Auditing Practices Board (APB), which came into operation in April and is responsible for establishing auditing...

Opinion: Leader - A day that changed the world.(September 11, 2001)(Brief Article)(Column)(Statistical Data Included)
September 9, 2002... The terrorist attacks on the US last September are set to be the defining moment of the new decade and the fall-out has already been evident in terms of economic fragility and sustained volatility in financial markets. UK pension funds lost a...

Opinion: Custody View - Maxwell's house continues to reign.(pension fund trustees and securities lending)(Brief Article)
September 9, 2002... During the past decade, the practice of securities lending as a tool for generating additional revenues was brushed aside by some trustees of pension funds. It may be said that this action can be traced back to the Maxwell affair where...

Opinion: Letter from America - A new day, a new dawn.(Brief Article)
September 9, 2002... Every investment era has its share of fiascos. When they hit, they often introduce change that affects the way people invest. So it is with the current rash of accounting irregularities, conflicted industry analysis and accusations of...

Opinion: Letters - To coin a phrase.(Brief Article)
September 9, 2002... I am a pensioner elected member of the board of trustees of a medium-sized (GBP100m) pension fund, which is how I come to be a regular reader of your magazine. Some decades ago I came up with the aphorism: "You can't take it with you, but...

Opinion: Letters - It's a man's world.(Brief Article)
September 9, 2002... I was bemused to read in last week's Pensions Week that a transseexual has won the right to legally be considered a woman. Now I presume congratulations is in order to Ms Goodwin and I am not going to go into the ins and outs of the ethics...

Opinion: Letters - Saints and rebounds.(Brief Article)
September 9, 2002... Further to last week's letter from Ben Essex on stock market folk lore, I would like to point out that the City rhyme is "Go away in May and come back on St Leger Day". As St Leger Day was up in Doncaster on Saturday, the next week or so...

Special Report: raising the bar of pension standards.(Brief Article)
September 9, 2002... The demand for excellence in pensions administration is greater than ever before. More companies are beginning to recognise the importance of offering employees with a well-run pension fund. There is also increasing pressure from regulators...

Special Report: Lightening the load.(pension fund management)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
September 9, 2002... Outsourcing, sub-contracting, delegating - whatever you choose to call it, it is important for any trustee body to ensure that it selects the correct organisation to undertake the administration of its pension scheme. This will not always...

People on the move: My first job - Peter Baker, executive director, Euraplan.(Brief Article)
September 9, 2002... What was your first job? As the budget officer to the UK sales organisation within International Computers and Tabulators. What made you stand out over other applicants? I was a chartered accountant, albeit South African, who could...

People on the move: Berrie's fruitful tie with Mellon.(Brief Article)
September 9, 2002... Russell/Mellon CAPS has appointed Fraser Berrie as a client relationship manager in its London office. Berrie joins from Prudential M&G where he was a senior performance analyst. He has also worked at Merrill Lynch Investment Managers and...