All Defined benefit articles – Page 149
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OpinionIs it time to trim your hedge funds?
Analysis: Since 2000, there has been an extraordinary rise in hedge fund investment. While only 2.1 per cent of large institutional investors had money in hedge funds in 2000, cost analysis service CEM Benchmarking says that this figure surpassed 50 per cent in 2016.
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OpinionWhat are trustees’ responsibilities when it comes to DB transfers?
Trafalgar House’s Michael De Souza discusses pension scheme trustees’ main responsibilities with regard to defined benefit transfers.
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NewsBox Clever judgment sees scheme inch closer to ITV funding
The Pensions Regulator was right to seek to impose a financial support direction on ITV in relation to the Box Clever defined benefit pension scheme, according to a court judgment published on Friday.
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News
Government consults on reforms to NDA schemes
The government has launched a consultation on its approach to reforming two schemes within the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s group, after proposals for a bespoke career average revalued earnings scheme were accepted by unions in 2017.
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News
Rate of investment consultant tenders has plummeted, survey finds
Less than 3 per cent of pension schemes retendered for investment consulting services last year, compared to 18.6 per cent of schemes in 2008, according to research from selection specialists IC Select.
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OpinionCarillion's post-mortem
It is not unusual for Work and Pensions Committee chair Frank Field to show off an impressive vocabulary when launching a salvo against political and personal foes. But even by his standards, the imagery used to put to bed the failed outsourcer Carillion has taken a turn for the macabre.
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FeaturesHaringey to swap passive equities for multi-factor strategy
The London Borough of Haringey Pension Fund has agreed to convert nearly half of its equity allocation from a passive fund into a multi-factor global strategy. It has also recently trimmed an overweight position in equities into its multi-asset absolute return and credit strategies.
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News
Marks and Spencer scheme completes £1.4bn buy-ins
On the go: Trustees of the Marks and Spencer Pension Scheme have purchased buy-in policies with Phoenix Life and Aviva totalling £1.4bn.
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NewsRegulator rebuked for 'feeble' response to Carillion underfunding
Carillion’s corporate culture was at the heart of the contractor’s collapse, MPs have concluded, but the Pensions Regulator has also come under fire for “failing in all its objectives” regarding the company’s pension funds.
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Opinion
Pension funds are making good progress with ESG, says Brunel CEO
Pension funds are making good progress when it comes to responsible investment, according to the £29bn Brunel Pension Partnership’s chief executive Dawn Turner.
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FeaturesKent stands by Neil Woodford despite massive underperformance
Despite concerns over the performance of its UK equities mandate with Woodford Investment Management, the Kent County Council Superannuation Fund has elected to retain its mandate with the embattled asset manager.
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News
National Grid and Zurich complete longevity transaction
More than £2bn of pensioner liabilities of the National Grid Electricity Group of the Electricity Supply Pension Scheme have been covered by an intermediated longevity swap deal with insurer Zurich.
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News
Brewery and chair plead guilty in regulator's s72 case
Samuel Smith Old Brewery and its chairman Humphrey Smith have pleaded guilty to failing to provide information about its schemes to the Pensions Regulator.
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News
TPR plan welcomed, but concerns remain over consistency
The industry has welcomed the Pensions Regulator's new corporate plan, which outlines how it plans to become “clearer, quicker and tougher”, but concerns remain over consistency and the watchdog's focus on smaller schemes.
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Features
Strathclyde ups commitment to emerging market debt
The Strathclyde Pension Fund has nearly doubled its investment in emerging market debt as part of a drive to diversify its portfolio and participate in 'the growth story' of emerging economies.
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Features
Are diversified growth funds the place to be?
Analysis: Experts remain divided over the value offered by diversified growth funds. While DGFs offer a source of return that comes with reduced risk and daily pricing, they have come in for criticism in recent years over a perceived lack of performance and value.
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OpinionWhat to consider before agreeing a switch to CPI
The appropriateness of the retail price index has been increasingly challenged in recent years, according to Hymans Robertson’s Alistair Russell-Smith, but around three quarters of the UK’s 6,000 defined benefit schemes still link their annual pension increases to RPI.
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News
Further details emerge on consolidator safeguards
Investors in The Pension SuperFund will not begin to receive returns on their capital until its consolidated schemes have passed a 115 per cent funding target, its executives have told the Work and Pensions Committee.
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Features
Which schemes are destined for the PPF?
The majority of smaller stressed defined benefit schemes are likely to end up in the Pension Protection Fund, according to consultancy Barnett Waddingham, as it raised concerns that the Pensions Regulator's new tougher stance may remove vital flexibility from the system.
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News
Are trustees engaging with fiduciary managers properly?
Most trustees are perfectly capable of operating beyond the conflicts of interest inherent in fiduciary management, but some small schemes lack resources and support, according to experts.