All Defined benefit articles – Page 119
-
News
TPR eases reporting and enforcement rules
On the go: The Pensions Regulator has relaxed its enforcement rules and reporting guidelines for trustees amid the coronavirus crisis.
-
PodcastsPodcast: Three-month DB contribution holiday ‘might not be enough’
Podcast: Measures introduced by the Pensions Regulator – which allow employers to freeze their defined benefit obligations for three months in response to the economic fallout from coronavirus – might need to be reviewed, warned Emma Watkins, annuities director at Scottish Widows. However, she says the plan gives “breathing space to the most stressed pension schemes”, an opinion shared by Simon Kew, covenant adviser and former manager at the regulator.
-
News
DB schemes to face major data exercise for dashboards
New requirements to translate defined benefit pensions into an annual income in today’s terms could mean trustees and administrators face a major data exercise to comply with the pensions dashboards, according to experts.
-
News
Jonathan Reynolds named shadow pensions secretary
On the go: Former shadow economic secretary Jonathan Reynolds has been named as the shadow secretary for work and pensions by new Labour leader Keir Starmer.
-
News
Protheroe: From employee 37 to PPF board member
Fifteen years after joining the Pension Protection Fund as employee number 37, Sara Protheroe has now been appointed to the lifeboat’s board.
-
News
Debenhams’ trustees working with TPR as retailer eyes administration
On the go: The trustees of the Debenhams pension schemes are working with the Pensions Regulator and the Pension Protection Fund, as the company filed a notice of intention to appoint an administrator on Monday.
-
News
Newspaper group asks for deficit deferment
On the go: Reach, the publisher of Daily Mirror and Daily Express, has requested discussions with the regulator around a deferment of current deficit recovery contributions.
-
OpinionPension protections must not be victims of coronavirus
The coronavirus outbreak has had an unprecedented impact on the pensions sector.
-
News
TPR urges trustees to work flexibly with administrators
On the go: The Pensions Regulator has updated its Covid-19 guidance for trustees, highlighting that the pandemic “is placing huge pressures on the administration of pension schemes”.
-
NewsCovid-19: Will Sunak’s latest stimulus aid DB sponsors?
Market moves: Chancellor Rishi Sunak is reportedly considering measures to help the “squeezed middle” of UK corporates, while US president Donald Trump’s tweets set off a spike in oil prices.
-
News
TPR will not seek to punish trustees over tough pandemic decisions
Regulatory executive David Fairs has reassured defined benefit trustees that they will not be pursued over decisions they make in response to employers struggling in the wake of Covid-19.
-
News
Regulators warn over Covid-19 pension scams
On the go: Regulators have issued a warning that rising levels of vulnerability caused by the Covid-19 lockdown could see more savers targeted by scammers, as concerns about finances increase.
-
NewsCovid-19: Volatility returns to markets after UK banks scrap dividends
While UK banks suspended dividend payments amid pressure from the regulator, European markets returned to volatile conditions. Meanwhile, FTSE 350 companies’ defined benefit schemes reached an accounting surplus.
-
News
Inflation change could shave 20% off pension incomes
On the go: Government plans to change the way the retail price index is calculated could see savers’ lifetime pension income drop by almost 20 per cent as defined benefit schemes are hit.
-
NewsCovid-19: Actuaries to rescue as private markets to be tested
Analysis of private debt markets suggests that with certain sectors of borrowers struggling with cash flows, lenders will have to be flexible and rely on well-written covenants. Meanwhile, actuaries are looking to help fight the global pandemic.
-
News
WPP shifts further £250m with PIC buy-in
On the go: Advertising giant WPP has entered a £250m buy-in contract with the Pension Insurance Corporation, adding to a £140m transaction already completed with the same insurer in 2018.
-
News
USS sticks with March valuation despite battered funding level
Market volatility has seen the Universities Superannuation Scheme’s asset portfolio shed more than 13 per cent of its value and its deficit pass £11bn in recent days, triggering concerns, but as yet no action, from trustees.
-
NewsCovid-19: PASA steps in with admin guidance, while gloom gathers in auto ABS
The Pensions Administration Standards Association has urged providers to prioritise the payment of pensions as it struggles with the challenges of working remotely, while the Covid-19 pandemic could affect the automotive industry and financial instruments backing lease deals. Elsewhere in our round-up of daily market moves and pensions updates, one asset manager says schemes should be wary of inferring a bounceback from calming stock markets.
-
OpinionDon’t panic over 2020 valuations
Not all schemes will come out of the Covid-19 crisis in a worse shape than they entered it. Wherever trustees sit in the spectrum, their first priority should be gathering information, writes Dalriada Trustee’s Charles Ward.
-
News
Arcadia to halt deficit repayment contributions
On the go: Arcadia Group, Philip Green’s retail conglomerate, is planning to defer the deficit recovery contributions agreed with the Pensions Regulator in 2019.