From the blog: It appears another 'unacceptable face of capitalism' was revealed last week, with the Pensions Institute launching an indictment of employers who “milk and dump” their pension schemes.

Keith Wallace, president of The Association of Corporate Trustees, identified 35 ways an employer can extract surpluses or dodge pension obligations in a paper written for the Institute.

While the various tricks for milking surpluses detailed in Wallace’s paper are unlikely to be repeated in today’s deficit-laden world, the variety of methods for shedding pension liabilities makes for more troubling reading.

Pension schemes sponsored by insurance giant Aviva have reported a marked increase in their accounting surplus owing principally to falling interest rates, but experts warn of further pain for schemes which are not hedged against interest rate risk.

Schemes looking to multi-asset strategies to generate positive cash flow while derisking may have to turn to specialist managers to reduce their potentially significant governance burden.

Huge variations in the risk profiles and investment strategies of DC default fund offerings are putting savers’ retirement provision at risk, according to a recent study.

If Baroness Ros Altmann was less outspoken on issues of reform during her stint as pensions minister, she is certainly making up for lost time, launching her fourth attack on government policy in almost as many days.

A recent increase in reports of suspected pension scams has been called “the tip of the iceberg”, as some experts said tighter legislation would help schemes ensure their members do not lose hard-earned retirement savings.

From the blog: The end of Ros Altmann’s tenure as pensions minister on Friday capped off a week in which print news seemed doomed to be out of date by the time it hit the shelves. 

One of the last victims of Theresa May’s cabinet reshuffle, Altmann’s position has been renamed as Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Pensions, to be carried out by Richard Harrington, MP for Watford.

It is thought that parts of the downgraded portfolio may be hived off to the Treasury.

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The Local Pensions Partnership has created a £1.2bn property pool between the London Pensions Fund Authority and Lancashire County Pension Fund as experts have urged schemes not to panic over the recent gating of UK retail property funds.