Scottish Widows has been served with a court summons over the alleged mis-selling of funds to a final salary scheme.

Can anyone tell me if they have seen a news story anywhere that welcomes the fact that 40,000 HSBC employees are getting a better pension deal? Currently these employees get a 4%-6% employer contribution and from January it is proposed they will get 8% instead. So it would be fair to assume that thousands will have their employer contributions doubled.

HSBC is planning to double its pension contributions for thousands of its employees to better its recruitment and retention rates.

A poor understanding of inflation and longevity is leading to pensioners giving away up to a quarter of their pension pot upon retirement.

Employees should be informed about equity release from their homes within the the full range of annuity open market options (OMOs), according to Living Time.

Protected rights will be allowed into group self-invested personal pensions (Sipps) from October, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has confirmed.

The pensions industry will squander valuable time and money in the shift to risk-sharing unless it is kept simple, according to pension managers.

The Pension Protection Fund (PPF) has appointed ExactVAL to carry out valuation work.

The pensions industry faces losing the chance to stem the closure of defined benefit (DB) pension schemes unless it supports the case for risk-sharing.

I was perplexed when I read the Pensions Week front page article ‘Hedge funds’ value called into question’ (PW 02.06.08).

Mark Wood comments that he would expect a pension plan on the eve of buyout to have its assets and liabilities closely matched (PW 09.06.08), and it is hard to disagree with this.

Employees who choose to work over the age of 65 are increasingly taking the opportunity to build up their pensions further.

A personal pension plan that offers both capital and income guarantees has been launched by MetLife Europe.

One in 10 workers would be willing to take a pay cut in order to have a final salary pension.

The return of inflation to Japan after more than 15 years of deflation, could trigger a shift out of bonds into equities.

Pooled funds-of-hedge funds failed to achieve positive returns during the first quarter of 2008, figures from BNY Mellon have shown.

Pension funds are showing increasing interest in global property, a report from UBS has found.

PROFILE analysis Following the announcement that Lord Turner will become the FSA’s next chairman, Charlie Thomas reviews his CV and asks whether his credentials are a good enough match for this demanding industry role in times of economic turbulence

The actuaries are rewriting their ethical standards. How exciting! There will be Harry Potter-style crowds when the new standards are released at simultaneous midnight events in London and Edinburgh. Why do actuaries need new ethical standards? Has someone had his or her hand in the till? Nothing that dramatic I am afraid. It’s merely that the world has moved on and standards need to reflect reality.

For the PE to go from 12 to a business-as-usual 16 will be brought about not by a one-third increase in equity prices, but by a one-third fall in equity earnings

As economic growth continues in emerging market countries, the small cap companies keeping the profit-making process going are offering prime opportunities for investors

A review of how mandatory votes on remuneration reports have worked is needed, says Tom Powdrill

NAPF annual conference & exhibition 2008:

Legal creep

Financial markets have seen little relief from negative headlines over the last nine months. The deepening credit crunch spread far beyond the boundaries of high-risk instruments, culminating in the near collapse of Bear Stearns and record financial writedowns. Hedge funds were not immune to the lack of liquidity in the market, demonstrated by the collapse of hedge funds Peloton Partners and Carlyle Capital (among others).

Duncan Howorth (pic) has been elected as president of the Society of Pension Consultants (SPC).