All Defined benefit articles – Page 203

  • Getty
    News

    Royal British Legion to expand Pie after £1m saving

    2013-07-11T00:00:00Z

    The Royal British Legion is working on a pension increase exchange offer for members coming up to retirement, after an exercise with the scheme’s pensioners last year knocked £1m off its deficit.

  • News

    Derbyshire reduces auto-enrolment comms burden

    2013-07-10T00:00:00Z

    Derbyshire County Council has taken steps to reduce its auto-enrolment communication costs, from record-cleansing to communicating through employers, as local authority schemes look to manage the cost of the reform.

  • News

    Gilt investment reaches post-crisis peak at £22bn

    2013-07-05T00:00:00Z

    Schemes have ramped up their investment in gilts and index-linked gilts over the past couple of years in an attempt to shore up their pension promises, data from the Office for National Statistics have shown.

  • Features

    Bedfordshire offers representation for academies

    2013-07-04T00:00:00Z

    Bedfordshire Pension Fund has decided to offer academies “observer” status on its pension committee, with the schools representing a growing and increasingly scrutinised proportion of local authority scheme membership.

  • Getty
    News

    Wind-up: avoiding union and member backlash

    2013-07-02T00:00:00Z

    Winding up defined benefit schemes or changing members’ benefits has become a working reality for some management teams, as employers decide to cut costs and offload risks in a tough environment for scheme funding.

  • News

    Lothian to reduce 'suboptimal' market cap exposure

    2013-06-19T00:00:00Z

    The Lothian Pension Fund is to reduce its reliance on market capitalisation-based equity indices and increase investment in global portfolios, in order to boost performance and reduce volatility for members.

  • News

    SPC: Pot-follows-member a 'breeding ground' for fraud

    2013-06-14T00:00:00Z

    The government’s pot-follows-member proposals threaten to “overstretch” the industry and expose members to greater risk of pension liberation fraud, if introduced at the peak of auto-enrolment in 2014, the Society of Pension Consultants has warned.

  • Opinion

    Why 'healthy' life expectancy matters to members

    2013-06-13T00:00:00Z

    Longevity has rooted itself as a near-intractable problem for sponsors of defined benefit pension schemes while at the same time being an apparently good-news story for everyone else.

  • News

    Three out of four schemes to mitigate volatility

    2013-06-12T00:00:00Z

    The use of volatility-reducing strategies has increased as schemes look to dampen the impact of current market conditions on portfolios, according to investment data.

  • News

    Wandsworth eyes collective investment lead

    2013-06-12T00:00:00Z

    Wandsworth Council Pension Fund has set its sights on leading a London-wide collective investment vehicle to drive down costs, rather than a forced merger, pensions committee documents have revealed.

  • News

    EMD losing its sparkle as schemes value EM equities

    2013-05-31T00:00:00Z

    The recent lag in emerging market equity performance compared with developed markets is luring pension funds to an asset class they see as cheap compared to its debt counterpart.

  • News

    Schemes turn to ‘esoteric’ ABFs to fill deficits

    2013-05-31T00:00:00Z

    Schemes are being forced to be more creative in finding assets to back funding, industry experts have said, following deals using brands, intellectual property and whiskey.

  • News

    Hackney: equities better than bonds over long term

    2013-05-30T00:00:00Z

    Equities are more attractive in the long term than bonds, according to the London Borough of Hackney Pension Fund, which is even modelling the impact of a 100 per cent equity allocation on the scheme’s investments.

  • PIPA 2013 awards
    News

    PIPA 2013: The winners

    2013-05-30T00:00:00Z

    The full list of the winners of the 14th annual Pension and Investment Provider Awards, held last night at the Sheraton Park Lane Hotel.

  • Opinion

    Breaking down the regulator’s 2013 funding statement

    2013-05-28T00:00:00Z

    Sackers’ Zoë Lynch looks at what the Pensions Regulator’s annual funding statement means for schemes’ contributions, assumptions and recovery plans, in the latest edition of Technical View.

  • News

    BA communicates with members on growth objective

    2013-05-24T00:00:00Z

    The Pensions Regulator’s new objective to support employer growth has filtered through to members of the British Airways pension schemes, where trustees have met with the airline and regulator as part of the valuation process.

  • News

    Council funds clash over merger plans

    2013-05-22T00:00:00Z

    Norfolk Pension Fund has rejected Local Government Pension Scheme merger proposals, saying they could harm fund services and trustee stewardship – but the London Pensions Fund Authority and unions have backed the move.

  • News

    Schemes grab chance to fireproof against inflation

    2013-05-22T00:00:00Z

    Nearly half of pension fund trustees have incorporated longevity or swap contracts to tackle inflation risk, an upcoming survey will show, having benefited from favourable pricing last year to boost protection.

  • News

    How the 2013 funding statement affects your scheme

    2013-05-09T00:00:00Z

    NEWS ANALYSIS: The Pensions Regulator’s 2013 annual funding statement has set out the flexibilities open to schemes in the tough economic climate, but pension professionals have said those carrying out valuations this year could find the process challenging.

  • istock
    News

    Havering to fund 'stalled' local property projects

    2013-05-03T00:00:00Z

    The London Borough of Havering Pension Fund is planning to invest in delayed local property projects including residential housing, as more council funds increase their exposure to property to match liabilities and boost community investment.