News – Page 81
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Workplace savings platforms assets approach £2bn
Total assets of the UK’s eight major workplace savings platforms are approaching £2 billion, according to an update published by The Platforum in association with The Lang Cat.Its second Workplace savings platform guide found that, as of the second quarter of 2013, an estimated 249 employers have adopted a workplace ...
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Debbie Lovewell: Is pension charges cap enough?
It proposed three possible options for the cap:A charge cap of 1% of the funds under management, reflecting the current stakeholder pension cap;A lower charge cap of 0.75%, reflecting the charging levels already being achieved by many schemes;A two-tier ‘comply-or-explain’ cap, which would set a standard cap of 0.75% for ...
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DWP consults on pension charges
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has launched a consultation into charges on workplace pension schemes.Better workplace pensions: a consultation on charging, follows the Office of Fair Trading’s (OFT) market study into defined contribution (DC) pensions, which was published in September.The DWP’s proposals include:Mandating disclosure for pension scheme members ...
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Royal London to rebrand pensions and life business
Royal London is to ditch its UK life, pensions and investment brands and bring the businesses under the Royal London brand umbrella.Bright Grey, Scottish Life and Scottish Provident are expected to be phased out over the next two years.The organisation’s fund management division, Royal London Asset Management, will retain its ...
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Aberdeen in talks to acquire Scottish Widows
Aberdeen Asset Management has confirmed it is in talks with Lloyds Banking Group about acquiring Scottish Widows Investment Partnership.Aberdeen Asset Management said the proposed transaction would offer substantial cost efficiencies and synergies to the business, and that it would reinforce its commitment to a progressive dividend policy and to return ...
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FTSE pension schemes not diversifying
Over the past 12 months, 85% of a selection of FTSE companies have not made any significant changes to the asset allocation of their defined contribution (DC) pension schemes, according to research by Schroders.Its second FTSE DC report, which studied the pension investment allocations of 16 FTSE 100 companies and ...
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ArticleAuto-enrolment contributions will not be enough
If a median earner saves only at the minimum contribution rate of 8% of a band of earnings, required under auto-enrolment legislation, throughout their working life, they will have less than a 50-50 chance of achieving an adequate retirement income, according to research by the Pensions Policy Institute (PPI).Its report, ...
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Passive investment funds perform better than active funds
Passive investment funds cost less than active ones, and perform better over most time periods, according to research by investment management firm Evercore Pan-Asset (EPA).The governance revolution paper, which analysed 14 equity, bond and alternative asset classes, showed that the passive funds selected performed better than the median actively-managed fund ...
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Trader Media to auto-enrol 310 employees
EXCLUSIVE: Trader Media Group is to auto-enrol 310 employees into its group personal pension (GPP) plan on 1 November.The media organisation, which owns titles such as Auto Trader, postponed auto-enrolment from 1 September.Currently, 700 of its more than 1,000 employees are already members of its GPP, which is provided by ...
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Goldman Sachs and Molson Coors awarded Pension Quality Mark
Goldman Sachs and Molson Coors are the latest employers to be awarded the Pension Quality Mark (PQM), which recognises employers’ defined contribution (DC) pension schemes.The PQM standard was awarded to both employers by pensions minister Steve Webb at the National Association of Pension Funds’ (NAPF) annual conference in Manchester on ...
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Warburtons sees 2.3% auto-enrolment opt-out
Warburtons has had 2.3% of its auto-enrolled employees opt out of its trust-based defined contribution (DC) pension scheme, said Anne Hunt, pensions manager at the bakery, at the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) conference in Manchester on 17 October.The bakery, which has 4,500 employees across 26 sites, auto-enrolled 1,800 ...
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95% of LV= pension members trust their employer
The majority (95%) of LV= pension members who completed its inaugural pension survey trust their employer to make a difference in their path to retirement.Speaking at the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) conference in Manchester on 17 October, Mike Acred, pensions manager at the insurance firm, said: “I was ...
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Pension industry needs to be bold to deliver best value
The pensions industry needs to be bold if it is to deliver increased value and the best outcome for members.Defined contribution (DC) scheme charges, in particular, need to be brought into line across all providers with greater transparency.Speaking in a panel debate at the National Association of Pension Funds’ annual ...
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Staff confidence in pensions growing
The UK is moving from being a nation of pension shirkers to pension savers.Speaking at the NAPF’s annual conference, Joanne Segars (pictured), chief executive of the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF), said: “I think I can see the green shoots of pensions recovery. [Auto-enrolment] opt-out rates are far lower ...
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Employers should limit pension scheme fund choice
Employers should limit the pension fund choice they offer employees to maximise their propensity to invest.Speaking at the National Association of Pension Funds’ annual conference and exhibition 2013, Andrew Cheseldine, a partner at actuarial consultancy, Lane, Clark and Peacock, argued that employers that offered employees too much fund choice actually ...
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Weight Watchers auto-enrols second group of staff
Weight Watchers will auto-enrol its second cohort of staff into a pension on 26 October. These will be drawn from the 1,600 people who lead Weight Watchers meetings, called ‘leaders’.To date, 5% of its 200 head office staff, who were auto-enrolled on 1 August, have opted out of the pension ...
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Mercer launches master trust service
Mercer has launched a master trust service through its workplace savings platform.The service will enable employers to select from three providers: Aegon, Friends Life and Zurich. Service levels have been agreed with each provider.Mercer has also appointed BESTrustees as independent trustee for the service.The master trust service has been designed ...
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18% want pension invested in ethical funds
Almost one in five (18%) respondents would like to see 100% of their pension scheme invested in a fund that avoids anything where there may be a negative environemental, social or goverance impact, according to research by the Ethical Investment Research and Information Service (EIRIS).Its research, which was launched to ...
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Michelin awarded PQM for fourth year
Michelin has retained its Pension Quality Mark (PQM) for a fourth consecutive year.The award recognises the tyre manufacturer’s commitment to helping employees save for retirement through its trust-based defined contribution (DC) pension scheme.The PQM, which was launched in 2009 by the National Association of Pension Funds, recognises DC schemes with ...
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Article94% of over 55s glad to be pension savers
The majority (94%) of respondents aged over 55 who participate in a workplace pension scheme are glad they opted to do so, according to research by Aviva.Its Real retirement report, which surveyed almost 18,000 UK consumers aged over 55, examines the financial pressures affecting the UK’s three ages of retirement: ...