All Pensions articles – Page 124
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Article
FTSE 350 pension deficits rise to £98bn
The estimated aggregate deficit for the defined benefit (DB) pension schemes of FTSE 350 companies stood at £98 billion at 30 September 2013, according to research by Mercer. This is equivalent to a funding ratio of 85%.Its Pensions risk survey found that asset values increased by £4 billion over the ...
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Opinion
Ant Donaldson: High employer pension contribution leads to engagement
I respond to Richard Fleet’s description of auto-enrolment contributions as “a payroll tax” in your September letters page and that an employer contributing above the minimum “is putting itself at a competitive disadvantage”.At E.On, we believe it’s important to help employees to retire comfortably. Consequently, we auto-enrolled all of our ...
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Article
Grant Thornton overcomes AE postponement challenges
EXCLUSIVE: Grant Thornton opted to postpone auto-enrolling its employees by three months, but found that the move presented significant challenges.The professional services organisation opted to auto-enrol its staff on 1 October, three months after its staging date of 1 July.Employers must offer employees the ability to auto-enrol on their official ...
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Article
Philips insures defined benefit pension
Electronics manufacturer Philips has entered into a bulk annuity transaction for its defined benefit (DB) pension scheme.The policy, with insurer Rothesay Life, is being held by the trustee of the Philips Pension Fund and covers £484 million worth of liabilities.It provides the pension scheme with a secure, low-risk asset with ...
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Article
Employers do not view auto-enrolment as beneficial
More than two-thirds (69%) of respondents do not think pensions auto-enrolment will be beneficial for their organisation in the long term, according to research by Hargreaves Lansdown.Its HL Employer attitudes survey, which questioned 100 employers, found that 76% of respondents think they should get more recognition for implementing auto-enrolment.The research ...
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Article
Appetite for pension de-risking remains strong
The appetite for pension de-risking solutions remains strong among both employers and trustees, according to a report by JLT Employee Benefits.Its Buyout market watch update found that total de-risking deals in 2013 are set to exceed last year’s figure of £4.5 billion.In July 2013, the EMI Group Pension Fund completed ...
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Article
More than 1.6m staff auto-enrolled into pensions
More than 1.6 million eligible employees have been enrolled into an auto-enrolment pension scheme, according to a registration report published by The Pensions Regulator.Its Automatic-enrolment report, which covers the period between July 2012 and August 2013, also found that an additional 2.5 million employees who work at organisations that have ...
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Article
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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Article
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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Article
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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Article
PTL launches DC governance products
Pitmans Trustees Limited (PTL) has launched a suite of products to help employers establish a governance framework for their defined contribution (DC) pension schemes.The products, called ‘Lifetime: DC governance focused on members’, is a package of tools developed specifically for DC pensions, including trusteeship, group personal pension (GPP) governance and ...
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Article
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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Article
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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Article
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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Article
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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Article
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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Article
JP Morgan launches DC business
JP Morgan Asset Management has launched a dedicated defined contribution (DC) pension business for the UK market.UK SmartRetirement offers a range of target date funds, which take into consideration member behaviour analysis and long-term market assumptions, to create default investment funds that comprise different investment types.Simon Chinnery (pictured), head of ...
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Article
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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Article
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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Article
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 ...