BlackRock and Newton Investment Management swept the board at this year’s Pensions and Investment Provider Awards, winning three awards each.

The business case for straight-through processing is not made so much by the efficiency gains, but by the avoidance of making mistakes on important matters like pensions.

A letter written to the chancellor has proposed reducing the annual pensions allowance as an alternative to cutting tax relief on pension contributions.

Three-quarters of investors in a Network Rail inflation-linked bond issue were pension schemes looking to avoid the volatility of equities and disruption in the swaps market.

Pension pots of less than £2,000 can now be taken as a collective lump sum, regardless of larger pension provisions.

A defined benefit pension scheme’s rules have been rewritten to reflect the intention of its sponsor and trustees after a High Court decision.

The government must open and fund a compensation scheme for Equitable Life policyholders, according to the parliamentary ombudsman’s latest report.

The Personal Accounts Delivery Authority (PADA) cannot provide a low-cost scheme if corporates turn away from personal accounts, according to Punter Southall.

High yield bonds will continue to outperform, according to a fund manager, amid record investment in the asset class.

Companies could be ordered to pay money into schemes when dividends are paid to shareholders under new debt avoidance powers.

Mercer has recorded a decline in fund manager searches among its UK institutional investor clients over 2008.

Mercer has called on the government to allow companies at threat of failing to defer contributions to their pension scheme.

Under the old paper-based system, more than 200 IPs were reported to their professional body for failing to advise the PPF and the Pensions Regulator about pension schemes of insolvent companies.

I have attended only a few trustee meetings since the Budget; most such meetings are later in the quarter. But there has only been one topic of conversation – the changes in pension taxation for high earners.

Pensions Week asked four industry insiders to consider the potential impact on occupational schemes of the changes to tax relief for higher earners.

The traditional penalty for excesses in property markets is death by a thousand cuts. In other words, a long and drawn out process of pain, suffering and lingering death before finally it is all over and the cycle can start again. This time around, the cuts have been made with all the subtlety of a mad axeman. Is the butchery inflicted on property values nearly over?

For members of defined benefit (DB) schemes that leave with deferred pension entitlements, legislation (since the mid 1980s) has specified a minimum rate of revaluation of the deferred pension over the period to its commencement at the scheme’s normal pension age (NPA).

Challenging markets have prompted more shareholders to vote against remuneration reports, but their opinions should be voiced through good and bad times, says Tom Powdrill

Many of us know Allan Course for his work as an independent pension trustee with Capital Cranfield, and his authorative, pragmatic advice on governance and risk management issues delivered in stentorian tones at various seminars. However, he is also a big shot outside of pensions, for his knowledge of prehistoric archaeology and in particular Stone Age tools.

In this article we dig a little deeper into absolute return investing to look at the types of funds and the issue of market timing.

How appropriate for consumers are lifestyle default funds, and is there a single-structure solution for DC schemes?

Amid heightened equity market volatility there is potential to generate returns while limiting losses, says Chi-Kit Pang

Hymans Robertson has appointed John Wright to the newly created role of head of public sector consulting.

Friends Provident has hired Evelyn Bourke as chief financial officer (CFO) and placed her on the board of directors.

Independent financial adviser (IFA) firm Helm Godfrey has appointed Graham Cross as head of operations.

Hymans Robertson has hired Barry Mack as head of governance and plan management, a new role within the firm.