Pensions Week articles from September 2005

Pensions Week archives from September 2005

News: Bradstock members face fresh setback.
September 5, 2005... Assets recovered for the pension fund in the liquidation of the collapsed financial services firm Bradstock Group will be used to provide indexation to pensioners on full benefits, with nothing for deferred members who face benefit cuts of up...

News: Funding regulations delayed until October.
September 5, 2005... New funding requirements for defined benefit pension funds will come into force more than a month later than expected following widespread discontent in the pensions industry. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) will implement the...

News: McKnight defects to LCP.
September 5, 2005... Watson Wyatt has lost another member of its investment team to a rival consulting practice. Ian McKnight has resigned from his role as investment consultant to join Lane Clark & Peacock's (LCP) investment consulting practice. McKnight...

News: Engineers say how to fix pensions system.
September 5, 2005... The Engineering Employers Federation (EEF) has called for a major overhaul of the UK's pensions system which includes the introduction of a three-pillar system. The manufacturers' organisation said the changes, which would include an...

News: PPF pensions levy will not consider contingent funding.
September 5, 2005... The Pension Protection Fund (PPF) will take no account of contingent funding arrangements when setting the 2006/2007 pensions levy. The refusal to consider contingent funding, such as granting pension schemes a charge over company assets,...

News: Royal London introduces flexible pensions for DC members.
September 5, 2005... Royal London has launched a flexible retirement package for its defined contribution scheme members. Under a group personal pension arrangement, employees at the life and pensions company will receive employer contributions of twice the...

News: Simplification could lead to rush for tax-free cash from schemes.
September 5, 2005... There will be a rush to scoop tax-free cash from pension schemes when the tax rules change next April, according to pension advisers. Tax simplification rules, set to come into effect on 6 April next year, will allow a tax-free lump sum to...

News: NDA to introduce industry-wide pension scheme.
September 5, 2005... The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) has gone out to tender for a consulting actuary following its decision to introduce a new industry-wide pension scheme. The nuclear clean-up scheme will appoint the consulting actuary to help...

News: Axa wins oe67m local authority mandate as Shropshire signs up.
September 5, 2005... The Shropshire County Council pension fund has selected Axa Rosenberg Investment Managementto run a GBP67m Europe ex-UK equity mandate. Earlier this year, Shropshire ditched equity managers Barclays Global Investors, Deutsche Asset...

News: Amended debt regulations come into force.
September 5, 2005... Regulations that change the debt payable by an employer who pulls out of a multi-employer pension scheme came into force last week. The amended regulations change the basis on which the debt is payable from the minimum funding basis to the...

News: News in brief.
September 5, 2005... INVESTMENT SOLUTIONS TO RUN RINGWAY'S DB The Ringway Group has appointed multi-manager Investment Solutions for its three defined benefit (DB) schemes, worth GBP10m. Robin Withers, secretary of the road maintenance company, said:...

Opinion: Letters - Support for 50/50 mnt split.(Letter to the Editor)
September 5, 2005... I would support the comments made by Tom Powdrill of the TUC in his letter (PW 22.8.05) challenging the reported comments that equal member representation fails to add value to trustee boards. Since nationalisation of the gas industry more...

Opinion: Letters - Trustees' agenda is to serve beneficiaries.(Letter to the Editor)
September 5, 2005... Tom Powdrill's letter (PW 22.8.05) was interesting, because in his attempt at making a point about the value of member-nominated trustees (MNTs), he questions the motives of employer trustees by asserting that "there are clear conflicts of...

Opinion: Letters - Wrong if you do, wrong if you don't.(Letter to the Editor)
September 5, 2005... Pensions Week of 22 August on page 3 carries a report of criticism of the AA bond yield assumption for FRS 17 because this "does not take into account the market-determined cost of capital for the sponsoring firm ". On page 11 of the same...

Opinion: Don't miss future editions of the Trustee Masterclass.
September 5, 2005... Have you been keeping up to date with the Trustee Masterclass series produced as a joint initiative between PW and Merrill Lynch Investment Managers (MLIM)? The Trustee Masterclass aims to help UK pension fund trustees with the increasing...

News: Questions raised over compensation scheme.
September 5, 2005... The Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS), which started operating last week, is still collecting data on schemes, giving rise to fears that the government is not acting quickly enough to compensate those who have lost all or most of their...

News: UK trustees unprepared for pensions act changes.
September 5, 2005... Only half of UK trustees are prepared for the additional responsibilities of the Pensions Act 2004, according to a report. From April next year, trustees will be legally required to know and understand the law relating to pensions and...

News: State Street bags four local authority mandates.
September 5, 2005... State Street has made further inroads into the local authority pension scheme market winning four custody mandates worth GBP1.7bn. The global custodian has won an GBP850m mandate with Rhondda Cynon Taf Borough Council superannuation fund, a...

News: Liberata expands outsourcing business services.
September 5, 2005... Business processes provider Liberata and Gecis Global have joined together to offer outsourcing solutions to the UK life and pensions industry. The partnership combines Liberata's processing outsourcing business and Gecis's business and...

News: New pensions business up as stakeholder lags.
September 5, 2005... Life and pensions business has seen a growth of almost 13% over the second quarter of this year, but stakeholder sales remained disappointing. New business, compared to the equivalent quarter of 2004, totalled almost GBP3bn, according to...

News: Consumers rate pensions info as poor.
September 5, 2005... Three-quarters of adults in the UK are not interested in reading financial correspondence and would rather read about horoscopes than pensions. Women in particular experience the greatest difficulty in digesting financial information, with...

News: Trustee - The cost of options.
September 5, 2005... As I write this at the end of what journalists describe as the 'silly season', I am moved to ponder on what might appear, to some trustees at least, to be a silly topic. Investors, including pension trustees, are being urged to involve...

News: Help for trustees from Pinsent Masons.
September 5, 2005... Law firm Pinsent Masons has set up a service to help trustees assess the strength of their scheme sponsor's business in response to the Pensions Act 2004. The service will incorporate legal, banking, restructuring and accounting advice....

News: Ombudsman blames lack of resources as backlog soars to 1,700.
September 5, 2005... The pensions ombudsman has come under fire from the industry for lengthy delays in dealing with cases as the backlog soars to 1,700 and investigations drag on for more than seven years. The concerns came as pensions ombudsman, David...

News: Ombudsman watch.
September 5, 2005... The Pensions Ombudsman The ombudsman has recently published his annual report for 2004 to 2005. In this he reveals that a budget of GBP1,960,000 was agreed for the year. However, he succeeded in spending only GBP1,753,000, compared with...

News: Standard Life Investments' sales soar to oe1.4bn.
September 5, 2005... Standard Life Investments saw a hike of 115% in UK institutional business to GBP1.4bn over the last six months. The interim results for 2005 showed continued growth, as 71% of its pension funds outperformed their respective peer groups,...

News: New multi-managers will have to be different to succeed.
September 5, 2005... The plethora of new entrants to the manager-of-managers arena will have to develop alternative and innovative services if they are to threaten established players, consultants and multi-managers said. According to SEI Investments and...

News: NAPF notice board.
September 5, 2005... Delegates sign up for NAPF autumn conferences season The NAPF's autumn conference season is now well under way with delegates already registering for our two forthcoming events. On Wednesday 28 September, London's Royal College of...

Governance update: Corporate governance concerns at Warner Estates Holdings.
September 5, 2005... Warner Estates Holdings is holding its annual general meeting (AGM) this week (8 September 2005), and Research Recommendations Electronic Voting (RREV) has raised several serious corporate governance concerns in its report on the company. ...

Insight: Land of Opportunities.
September 5, 2005... Emerging markets offer investors a range of opportunities to enhance long- term returns when used as part of a diversified and balanced investment portfolio. However, conventional investment methods do not fully capitalise on the growth...

McAllister Investigates: Simplification - Exotic dish for a few, but no bread for the masses.
September 5, 2005... Simplification is everything but simple. Pension schemes are frantically wading through reams of regulation let loose from the government with haphazard irregularity, while the industry is desperately trying to decipher what six tax regimes...

Opinion: Leader - Another nail in the coffin for private savings.
September 5, 2005... If you ask the average worker whether they are a member of their company pension scheme, the majority would be able to answer yes or no. Ask that same worker if they are contracted in or out of the second state pension (S2P) chances are they...

Opinion: Personal view - With-profits bounces back.
September 5, 2005... With-profits has long been the backbone of the UK's long-term savings industry, delivering impressive long-term payouts for those who held their policies until maturity. Then at the end of the 1990s came the bear market. The with-profits...

Opinion: Inside view - Finding the value in emerging currencies.
September 5, 2005... Emerging currencies have offered significant opportunities over the past year to add uncorrelated sources of alpha to portfolios. The improved liquidity, the uncorrelated trends and the lack of a clear direction from the major currencies have...

Roundtable: Multi-management - Intro.(Panel Discussion)
September 5, 2005... Multi-management is one of the most active areas of institutional fund management in the UK. The past year has seen numerous new entrants to the market including Bramdean, West AM and Neptune - testament to the sector's obvious growth...

Roundtable: Multi-management - Multi-managers: evolving to meet the needs of today's markets.
September 5, 2005... Gill Wadsworth: Is it possible that the market is now reaching saturation and that there are too many multi-managers for the market to be profitable? John Gillies: It is an interesting issue as to whether there is a limit to...

People on the move: Lovatt joins Scottish Life as head of marketing development.
September 5, 2005... Scottish Life, the pensions arm of the Royal London Group, has appointed Neil Lovatt to the newly created position of head of marketing development. Reporting directly to group product development director, Ewan Smith, Lovatt's...

People on the move: Parker appointed senior consultant at Mercer.
September 5, 2005... Mercer Human Resource Consulting has appointed Matthew Parker as a senior consultant within its retirement consulting business. Based in London, he will provide actuarial advice to pension scheme trustees and employers. Parker has 18...

People on the move: Optima targets Europe with Martin at the helm.
September 5, 2005... Hedge fund-of-funds Optima Holdings has appointed Graham Martin as managing director of Optima Investment Management in its new London office. Martin joined from Gartmore Investment Management where he was business development director of...

People on the move: Vebnet nabs 4th Contact duo.
September 5, 2005... Vebnet has appointed Mark Dixon as client services director and James Verner as sales director. Dixon and Verner both joined from 4th Contact where they held the roles of founding member, and business solutions and product development...

People on the move: Dukes takes responsibility for sales at IRM.
September 5, 2005... Independent Risk Monitoring (IRM) has appointed Marc Dukes as manager of business development. He will be responsible for day-to-day sales and marketing activities and client relationship management. Dukes joins IRM having spent time...

News Just In... : Industry demands higher rebates for schemes contracting out of S2P.
September 5, 2005... The government has come under renewed pressure from consultants to ramp up national insurance (NI) rebates by GBP2bn for schemes contracting out of the state second pension (S2P). Rebates paid to employers and members of company pension...

News Just In... : New rules encourage data transparency.
September 5, 2005... Investment funds of life and pension providers will have to report past performance data following a decision by the Association of British Insurers (ABI) to rejig existing rules. The move next month is designed to give more transparency to...

News: PPF levy risks major corporate collapse.
September 12, 2005... The government's looming risk-based levy for the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) will cause the collapse of many schemes and their parent companies, according to industry insiders. Payments of the levy, based on the deficit of defined benefit...

News: Draft regulation encourages disclosure.
September 12, 2005... Members of non money-purchase schemes will be able to chart the state of their savings under planned government regulations forcing schemes to publish annual benefits information. The draft regulation is designed to give members more...

News: LCP loses Treeby.
September 12, 2005... Lane Clark & Peacock (LCP) has lost an investment consultant with over six years' service at the firm. Victoria Treeby who arrived at LCP as a graduate six years ago has resigned from her post as investment consultant. LCP did not...

News: Lee quits Mercer.
September 12, 2005... Mark Lee has resigned from his position as analyst at Mercer Investment Consulting. Lee will spend several months on gardening leave before taking up a new post although his new employer is unknown.

News: Pensions market could open up to alternative providers.
September 12, 2005... New players, such as fund management firms, could be able to operate pension schemes by next April, when pensions simplification is implemented. Following lobbying by the Investment Management Association (IMA), the Treasury is to issue a...

News: Cost and complexity biggest barriers to implementing occupational schemes.
September 12, 2005... Pensions complexity is second only to cost as a major obstacle to employers implementing a retirement plan, research revealed. According to an online survey conducted by the Society of Pension Consultants (SPC), 46% of respondents consider...

News: Industry clash over the future of contracting out.
September 12, 2005... Controversy rages over the potential loss of up to GBP8bn in private savings if contracting out of the state pension system is scrapped in favour of a flat rate citizens' pension. The industry is divided over the impact of cutting billions...

News: Mellon creates MAS with ownership of analytical service.
September 12, 2005... Mellon Financial Corporation has acquired full ownership of Russell/Mellon's global analytical services. Mellon will acquire Russell's 50% share of the joint institutional investment information service to create Mellon Analytical...

News: JLT pre-tax profits jumps by 20%.
September 12, 2005... Jardine Lloyd Thompson's (JLT) employee benefits business saw a 20% hike in pre-tax profits to GBP4.8m for the first half of 2005. The acquisition of software provider Profund in 2004 accounted for GBP3.9m of JLT's revenue, which is up 27% to...

News: News in brief.
September 12, 2005... NORTHERN TRUST WINS SONY UK MANDATE Northern Trust, a provider of global custody, asset administration and investment management, has won the mandate to provide custody services for GBP65m of UK equity assets at the Sony United Kingdom...

News: Hedge funds take the lead for HSBC.
September 12, 2005... A strong rally in the European equity markets helped fund-of-hedge funds regain their lead over long-only funds in July. The HSBC European Absolute fund rose by 2.3% in euro terms and 2.6% in sterling terms as the euro appreciated in value....

News: Elections drive investment growth in Germany and Japan.
September 12, 2005... The dual themes of politics and restructuring are driving fund managers' investment hopes for the disparate markets of Germany and Japan. While both economies have been struggling with underperforming stock markets and sluggish growth,...

News: JPMorgan develops portfolio technology.
September 12, 2005... Global custodian JPMorgan Worldwide Securities Services (JPMWSS) has expanded its portfolio reporting technology for institutional investors. JPMWSS' expanded application - Views - gives executives, accounting and operations staff at...

News: Don't miss future editions of the Trustee Masterclass.
September 12, 2005... Have you been keeping up to date with the Trustee Masterclass series produced as a joint initiative between PW and Merrill Lynch Investment Managers (MLIM)? The Trustee Masterclass aims to help UK pension fund trustees with the increasing...

News: TUC's proposed 10% rate for employers comes under fire.
September 12, 2005... Employers face paying 10% contribution rates under proposals by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) in support of its campaign to introduce compulsory savings. The trade union, which claims to have seven million members, launched a broadside...

News: Fat cat pensions attacked.
September 12, 2005... British boardroom directors receive pensions 45 times higher than most staff despite controversy still raging about fat cat salaries and bonuses, according to a Trades Union Congress (TUC) report. Despite calls for greater parity, the...

News: Pensions debate goes online.
September 12, 2005... The government has set up a website to allow the public to have its say in the national pensions debate. The interactive section enables people to send in their views on the pensions debate. Pensions reform minister Stephen Timms said:...

News: Deloitte to research commission for ABI.
September 12, 2005... The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has appointed business advisory firm Deloitte to help develop its next stage in the programme of how consumers get financial advice and how it is paid for. The ABI initially started the research in...

News: Capita plans growth after FPS acquisition.
September 12, 2005... One of the UK's biggest third-party administrators (TPAs) Capita Hartshead said no redundancies are planned following the recent acquisition of the FPS Group. Mike Addenbrooke, managing director at Capita Hartshead, said FPS's client base...

News: PMI introduces trustee qualifications.
September 12, 2005... The Pensions Management Institute (PMI) is to introduce new qualifications for trustees in April next year. The qualifications, which will cover the trustee knowledge and understanding requirements as set out in the 2004 Pensions Act, will...

News: Benchmark - Accepting the risks.
September 12, 2005... Investment is a process of seeking to balance risk and return. As time progresses I find myself increasingly interested in the risk side of the equation and conversely less interested in the return side. There are probably two main reasons,...

News: Cofunds adds to its web offering.
September 12, 2005... Cofunds has beefed up its online proposition with the addition of two further intermediary-friendly facilities. Independent financial advisers will be able to make copies of customers' valuation statements available on the web rather than...

News: FSA wants to extend transparency to bonds.
September 12, 2005... A new European Union transparency regime for the trading of shares on EU regulated markets, known as MiFID, could be extended to the bonds market after discussions by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). The FSA is examining secondary...

News: Ombudsman watch.
September 12, 2005... Episode 2 My wife, unlike me, has only one failing. She is devoted to The Bill. This is a TV programme about cops and robbers (and the things cops get up to with each other when not chasing robbers). Once upon a time, it was bearable...

News: JLT hits revenue targets and sees pre-tax profits rise.
September 12, 2005... Jardine Lloyd Thompson's (JLT) employee benefits business saw a 20% hike in pre-tax profits to GBP4.8m for the first half of 2005. The acquisition of software provider Profund in 2004 accounted for GBP3.9m of JLT's revenue, which is up 27%...

News: NAPF notice board.
September 12, 2005... Timms to address NAPF autumn conference The minister for pensions reform, Stephen Timms, is among the high profile speakers lined up for the National Association of Pension Fund's (NAPF) autumn conference, to be held at the QEII Conference...

Spotlight: Research: making a clear difference.
September 12, 2005... Research is coming from background to foreground, as investment consultants and institutional clients become more sophisticated and thorough in manager selections - Paul Myners already raised client awareness that commission cheques are buying...

Governance update: RREV opposes Misys succession race retention package.
September 12, 2005... Research Recommendations Electr-onic Voting (RREV) has recommended to its clients to vote against the resolution to approve the Misys retention long- term incentive plan (LTIP) at the company's Annual General Meeting (AGM), which is being held...

Opinion: Leader - Risk-based levy could result in tragedy for firms.
September 12, 2005... The idea that the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) could cause the collapse of pension schemes and their sponsoring employers would be laughable if it wasn't so tragic. The very lifeboat sent to rescue members from their sinking schemes...

Opinion: Personal view - Flexible legislation causes major problems for administrator.
September 12, 2005... The permissive nature of the legislation in the Pensions Act and the Finance Act 2004 gives employers unprecedented flexibility to choose both the manner and timing of changes to the structure of their current pension schemes, to suit their...

Opinion: Inside view - Africa's economic evolution draws in new investment.
September 12, 2005... Africa has traditionally appealed to the western world's purse through its heart instead of its head. Pop stars and politicians rather than investors have been its most energetic fundraisers. Western aid organisations and governments rather...

People on the move: Martin Currie complete sector team with Mariani.
September 12, 2005... Martin Currie Investment Management, the independent equity manager, has appointed Jamie Mariani as telecoms sector manager. Mariani joins on 19 September from investment bank Bryan, Garnier & Co where he was head of telecoms. Before...

People on the move: Hull latest to join Ashurst as pensions partner.
September 12, 2005... Law firm Ashurst has appointed Steven Hull as pensions partner. Hull joins from McDermott Will & Emery where he established and led the pensions and employee benefits department for over five years. Hull has advised a broad range of...

People on the move: Rowntree joins Newton to lead on pharmaceutical investment.
September 12, 2005... Newton Investment Management, the UK asset management subsidiary of Mellon Financial Corporation, has appointed Stephen Rowntree as an analyst on its global research team. Rowntree joined on 5 September, reporting to Simon Pryke, leader of...

People on the move: Gardiner to head up Morley's residential fund.
September 12, 2005... Morley Fund Management has appointed Neil Gardiner as its first dedicated residential property fund manager. Gardiner joined in August and reports to Phil Clark, head of specialist funds. Gardiner will be fund manager for Morley's...

News: Threadneedle seeks a reversal of fortune.
September 19, 2005... Poor investment performance and the departure of key institutional staff has forced Threadneedle Investments to rethink its business strategy. Mark Stanley has left his post as head of UK institutional business, a gap now filled by...

News: PPF allocates majority of pension schemes generous credit ratings.
September 19, 2005... Pension schemes could face doling out higher risk-based levies for the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) than at first thought as the over-generous rating system puts 90% of schemes in the clear. The credit ratings system for all defined...

News: PW editor scoops ABI award.
September 19, 2005... Matthew Craig, editor-in-chief of Pensions Week and sister title Pensions Management, was named as pensions writer of the year at last week's Association of British Insurers media awards. The award citation commended Craig for his ability...

News: Pearson retires.
September 19, 2005... Geof Pearson, the outspoken pensions manager at the J Sainsbury's pension fund, is to retire on A-day next year. Pearson told PW in 2003 that he wanted to take early retirement in 2005 after working for 40 years, but he decided to put back...

News: DB schemes turn to bundling to keep costs under control.
September 19, 2005... Rocketing costs and pressure on resources are forcing defined benefit (DB) schemes to place all their pension services with one provider. According to Scottish Equitable and Scottish Life, DB funds are bundling pensions services such as...

News: Curzon claims first A-day related Sipp property fund.
September 19, 2005... Curzon Capital has opened a City living buy-to-let fund ahead of A-day pension changes. The fund will allow investors to place residential property in self-invested personal pensions (Sipps) both before and after pensions A-day, enabling...