Trustees must check section 73 policy wording on hybrid pensions, or risk devaluing defined contribution (DC) pots, Eversheds has warned.

Cascade is a delightful word you hear a lot of in HR circles, which refers to the process of passing on often undelightful messages from senior management to the junior ranks.

Solvency II’s proposed changes to the pensions industry would sound a death knell for defined benefit (DB) schemes, according to Allianz Global Investors.

The pension ombudsman has committed to completing all current investigations within 24 months.

The aim is detailed within the body’s first ever annual business plan, which also reveals that it aims to respond to 95% of all initial enquiries within two days.

Employers switching to personal accounts in 2012 will have to work hard to retain graduates who will be running to stand still financially, Hewitt Associates has claimed.

An attempt to sue the directors of a trustee company has failed in what is being hailed as a clarification on trustee responsibility.

The Pensions Regulator has published its first in a planned series of good practice guides on DC schemes for trustees and employers.
The first set of guidance covers retirement options and the open market option in occupational DC schemes.
Other topics to be covered include DC scheme returns analysis, communicating with members guidance and investment practices guidance.

Trustees have little appetite for uninsured pension buyouts after the backlash against Pension Corporation’s takeover of Telent, according to an actuary.

The P&O Ferries trustee board has appointed Muse Advisory as secretary of its newly-launched 750 employee defined benefit (DB) scheme. The appointment follows work carried out by the consultancy in setting up the scheme, which follows a company restructure at P&O.

The £3bn Lothian pension fund has signed up to the UN principles for responsible investment.

I read with interest the story on PensionsNews.com (PW’s online sister channel. See PN 07/05/08) about firms struggling to find trustees. The number of schemes finding it difficult to recruit trustees has increased by nearly a third over the past year, according to a survey by the Pensions Regulator.

The Pension Protection Fund (PPF) has appointed an interim head of investment on a part-time basis.

Trustees are starting to avoid complex buyout solutions in favour of simplicity.
Nigel Burton, director of pensions at AIG Life, said there would be an increasing number of vanilla buyouts throughout 2008.
“What trustees really want is a solution to lock out risk,” he said. “Often the most suitable method is a full or partial buyout, rather than more complex products.”

The credit crunch has helped increase the income paid out on annuities, research from the Alexander Forbes Annuity Bureau has shown.

Killik & Co has led an assault on the group self-invested personal pension (Sipp) market by launching its first, and also preparing a ‘green group Sipp’ for the Carbon Disclosure Project.

Aberdeen Asset Management is to become the second biggest property investment manager in the UK, following its agreement to buy Goodman Property Investors (GPI).

Institutional investors are returning to developed country equities in a sign that the worst of the credit crunch is over.

More should be done to bring existing commercial property in line with sustainable investment, a leading property figure has claimed.

The Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) is pumping investment into a £56m initiative to help finance low carbon investment opportunities.

Since the recent reinforcement of the regulator’s powers, many have been sceptical about the potential effects. David Ricketts and Tom Willetts hear the reactions of four industry figureheads.

One of The Economist’s most famous predictions was its 1999 cover ‘Drowning in oil’. The theory was that, while everyone was excited about rising prices, concern was likely to generate supply, which would keep prices low.

Scheme sponsors should give serious thought to contracting back in – passing this risk back to the government at little cost. By Brian Nimmo.

Though many remain unsure of the true value of liability hedging, the strategy can be tailored to suit many defined benefit pension funds. By Paul Trickett.

A year on from the ISC’s paper, Tom Powdrill looks at how much resistance to public disclosure has lifted.

Local authority conference
The new LGPS: ringing the changes
May 19-21, 2008
The Belfry,
Warwickshire

Pension lawyers
Apparently some people will do anything to get hold of a pensions lawyer.

The key objective of the company in making an offer will be to achieve as high a reduction in the liabilities as possible (for an acceptable level of cost).

Mercer has poached Steven Blackie (pic) from rival Aon Consulting to head its consulting business in Scotland.