Latest articles from Angus Peters

IBM revises cash commutation factors

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The IBM Pension Trust has updated its cash commutation factors, offering transferring members across its schemes higher lump sums when exchanging part of their defined benefit entitlements.

BSPS nears compromise deal as Tata announces closure plan

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Tata Steel UK is to consult with employees on closing the British Steel Pension Scheme to future accrual, as part of an agreement with trade unions aimed at safeguarding the future of its UK steelworks.

Cold-calling ban could strengthen scheme powers to block transfers

The government has launched its consultation on pension scams, proposing bans on pension-related cold calls, limits on the statutory right to transfer and tighter regulations for setting up potentially fraudulent schemes. 

ABF and Pie to shore up Severn Trent against deficit plunge

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The Severn Trent Pension Scheme has agreed a new asset-backed funding strategy with its sponsor, following a year which saw its accounting deficit more than double despite derisking measures.

Ownership or nudge? How to make auto-escalation work

The pensions industry and government must instil a sense of “personal ownership” over pensions in currently underprepared members if auto-enrolment is to achieve its aims, pensions minister Richard Harrington has said.

Can global DB experience help the UK out of crisis?

UK pensions, we are often told, are in crisis. But what lessons can be learnt from defined benefit and defined contribution systems around the world?

Increased contributions vital to continue AE success story

The real tests of auto-enrolment are still to come, one of the architects of the initiative has warned, as an adequacy report found many defined contribution-reliant members of Generation X are already beyond auto-enrolment’s help.

Trustees not convinced by indexation change arguments

Trustees are overwhelmingly in favour of restructuring scheme benefit structures in response to the defined benefit crisis, a recent survey has suggested, but stop short of supporting a statutory override on increases of accrued benefits.

Capital protection key as ABF introduces equities overlay

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The Associated British Foods’ UK defined benefit pension scheme has implemented an equities derivative overlay strategy to give added risk protection to its substantial portfolio of growth assets, maintaining a strong allocation to equities.

FCA wants to strengthen duty on managers and consultants

About £109bn of investor assets is held by managers who charge high fees but do not offer significant variation from an index-tracking strategy, the Financial Conduct Authority’s interim report on competition in the asset management market has found.