High net worth individuals (HNWIs) have higher average levels of socially responsible investment (SRI) than institutional investors, according to a specialist SRI fund manager.

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) is calling for an independent commission to scrutinise the costs and rules of public sector pensions.

A growing number of trustees are looking to renegotiate their schemes’ fees downwards to help cope with the economic downturn.

One of the most annoying things someone said to me this year was that interesting news is, by default, bad news.

The pensions industry is expected to embrace personal accounts next year as understanding of the scheme improves.

The government has rejected a proposal to make risk-sharing defined benefit (DB) pension schemes easier to set up under secondary legislation.

Ian Selby has been ordered to pay £415,000 to the Pension Protection Fund to compensate for monies stolen from the Cheney Pension Fund.

State Street has won a contract to provide valuation, performance and risk analysis services to the PPF.

Trustees must get a head start on next year’s scheme valuations to improve the security of their pension scheme, according to an actuary.

The government is to amend the Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS) to ensure all pension funds are eligible for compensation when their employer becomes insolvent.

The value of UK pension fund assets run by fiduciary managers could reach £300bn by 2012, up from £2bn today, according to BlackRock.

The Pensions Regulator has acknowledged that trustees will have to accept longer-term recovery plans where their sponsoring employer is at risk.

Sponsors made fewer clearance applications to the Pensions Regulator last year, while schemes reduced the length of their deficit recovery plans.

Funds that take advantage of significant discounts in global convertible bonds have been launched by Aviva Investors and BlueBay Asset Management.

Expected market improvements in the second quarter of 2009 will only be a rally and not a recovery, according to Axa Investment Managers (Axa IM).

A fund manager is looking to promote investment in the mortgages of commercial property as a source of stable returns in 2009.

Over 40% of defined benefit (DB) schemes believe they will no longer meet their planned timetable to become fully funded.

Those promoting equity release plans to pensioners have been on the warpath again. SHIP (Safe Home Income Plans) – the trade body that represents regulated UK equity release providers – has revealed some worrying figures on the real purchasing power of pensioners.

The event

The Pensions and Investment Group has completed its first UK pension scheme communication awards.

We asked our Trusty 30 panel and Trustee GAAPS members what questions they would most like to ask hedge funds. These were then posed to four of the best performing UK-based hedge funds

The government’s initiated pensions lifeboat is in trouble. It is important that the government doesn’t turn this trouble into a mega crisis.

Net asset value

The value of your assets after taking off anything you owe. For a company, it is the value of its assets that are attributable to, or owed to shareholders after taking off any debts. Funds such as investment trusts and ‘investment company with variable capital’ corporations talk about their net assets per share. This is the total assets of the investment company, less the small amounts that might be outstanding, such as accrued management fees or other running costs.

By the end of 2018, pensions accounting will be a straightforward affair. There will be an open market in pension scheme liabilities actively traded on various exchanges around the world. Each relevant company will simply mark to market any existing obligations in the same way they now obtain an asset statement from their investment managers. Before this can be achieved, a number of other changes are required.

In the current choppy economic waters, some commentators are predicting a wave of consolidation in 2009 as businesses look to weather the storm. Where survival is at stake, it may be crucial for a deal to be rushed through. However, where a takeover affects a defined benefit (DB) pension scheme, the increasingly central role of its trustees in corporate activity demands that others should act with due caution.

Company comment
Andy Dickson, senior business development manager
STANDARD LIFE CORPORATE CLIENT MANAGEMENT

Tom Powdrill ponders the new era of governance likely to arise from the financial crisis

When life as an adviser to some of the biggest corporates in the world becomes a bit too much, when the stress appears to be getting on top of you and you find yourself losing the enthusiasm for you job, how do you recentre your inner being? If you’re Simon Chinnery, senior client adviser for JPMorgan Asset Management, you turn to your acrylics.

This month’s Trusty 30 survey asks to what extent the events of the past 12 months have affected how pension schemes will operate in 2009

Since the start of the credit crunch, how have pension funds changed in their views on fixed income?

Peter Murray: There has been a general trend over the last five to 10 years for pension funds to use fixed income to moderate and control their risks. Schemes are becoming more mature, and fixed income becomes a more appropriate asset class. With the growth of mark to market actuarial valuations accounting, a way to control your funding volatility and moderate the volatility of your sponsor’s balance sheet is to use fixed income. Schemes are now more sophisticated, with swaps for a proper liability-driven investing (LDI) approach to all or part of the liabilities.

Pioneer Investments has made two senior appointments to develop its UK institutional team in London.

Just Retirement Solutions, the distribution arm of Just Retirement, has appointed David Bitner as head of partnership development to generate growth.

Just Retirement Solutions, the distribution arm of Just Retirement, has appointed David Bitner as head of partnership development to generate growth.

JLT Benefit Solutions has appointed Jerry Edmondson as head of benefit communications.

CMS Cameron McKenna has promoted Rebecca Smith to partner in its insurance and reinsurance practice in Bristol. Smith specialises in financial claims involving pension trustees and their advisers.