All scheme funding articles – Page 17
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OpinionDo asset-backed funding structures need an update?
It has now been more than a decade since Marks and Spencer implemented the first asset-backed funding structure, and some of the industry’s pioneering arrangements are showing their age, according to CMS’s Alex Nicklin and Rizwan Rahman.
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News
Old British Steel scheme trustees consider buyout
On the go: The trustees of the Old British Steel Pension Scheme are considering a buyout for its 31,000 members, due to a better-than-expected funding position achieved while in the assessment period at the Pension Protection Fund.
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PodcastsPodcast: The days of ‘amateurish’ trusteeship are over
Podcast: The challenges posed by Covid-19 will accelerate the move toward professional trusteeship, according to Mercer’s chief actuary Charles Cowling, who argues that the responsibilities in this area post-coronavirus will be too much for lay trustees to handle alone. He and Catherine McFadyen, head of public sector actuarial, benefits and governance at Hymans Robertson, discuss LGPS funding, the impact of mortality rates, and give their predictions about the post-crisis world.
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News
Regulator rebuffs calls to abandon new DB code
On the go: The Pensions Regulator has dismissed calls from industry to halt its work on a new defined benefit funding code, arguing that the affordability principle it espouses is “even more important and relevant in the light of Covid-19”.
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News
Falling support for TPR’s new funding regime
On the go: Support for the Pensions Regulator’s vaunted new defined benefit funding regime may be falling, according to a report by Aon.
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Features
Coronavirus hits unhealthy DB schemes hard
Data crunch: A new report from consultancy Barnett Waddingham has found that the coronavirus crisis has exacerbated the funding divide between UK defined benefit schemes, with severe implications for those at the bottom of the pile.
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News
Return of the zombies: Can trustees ‘game’ PPF?
Defined benefit trustees linked to struggling employers face tough decisions about whether to tip their sponsors into insolvency or increase their burden on the Pension Protection Fund amid the onset of a global recession, in what experts have called a regulatory grey area.
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News
TPR signals renewed focus on sponsor affordability
The Pensions Regulator has directed defined benefit trustees to focus on the affordability of payments into their schemes by sponsoring employers, urging collaboration to link business recovery to increased member security.
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News
PPF could postpone 2030 funding goal amid Covid-19 crisis
The Pension Protection Fund could postpone its goal of being fully self-sufficient and 110 per cent funded by 2030 if needed to face the current Coronavirus pandemic, but will avoid “any kind of knee-jerk reaction”.
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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.
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News
Clara Pensions in talks with investors for new funding
On the go: Clara Pensions is seeking to raise between £200m and £300m from new investors, after a first fundraising in 2018.
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News
USS likely to breach deficit trigger
The Universities Superannuation Scheme could breach funding triggers relating to the size of its deficit, as coronavirus continues to cause turmoil in markets.
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News
Schools leave pension scheme as contributions rise
On the go: The number of private schools opting out of the Teachers’ Pension Scheme to avoid a significant hike in contributions has increased by more than a third in the past six months.
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News
Talks fail to head off USS strikes
On the go: University employers have stated they are unwilling to meet the demands of a trade union ahead of strikes over the Universities Superannuation Scheme beginning this week.
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News
Train operators' legal battle with government kicks off
On the go: Train operators will argue that the government has unfairly excluded them from rail contracts over its stance on pensions, in a High Court case that begins on Monday.
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News
UK crawls back towards PPF surplus
On the go: UK defined benefit schemes are inching towards being fully funded on the basis used by the Pension Protection Fund, new figures from the lifeboat reveal.
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Features
TPR: 700 DB schemes may never reach full funding
Data crunch: Forty-nine defined benefit schemes are in a parlous state with funding under 50 per cent of their liabilities, the latest data from the Pensions Regulator reveals.
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News
DB schemes move to formal long-term planning as regulation bites
On the go: Defined benefit pension funds are increasingly focusing on a long-term, formalised endgame or funding target, according to research by PwC.
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News
Four-fifths of FTSE 350 schemes eligible for consolidation
On the go: More than four-fifths (84 per cent) of FTSE 350 companies’ defined benefit schemes are eligible to join a commercial consolidator, new research showed.
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News
Providers to be fined £50k if they break dashboard rules
On the go: The government has revealed that providers that fail to supply data for the pensions dashboards could be fined up to £50,000 by The Pensions Regulator.