All Pensions articles – Page 131
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Article
Ceridian launches auto-enrolment product for SMEs
Ceridian has launched an off-the-shelf auto-enrolment product for small and medium-sized employers (SMEs).The technology and service providers’ product aims to help organisations with between 499 and 59 employees that will reach their staging date in 2014 and reduce the administrative burden of complying with auto-enrolment.It is delivered through Ceridian’s HRevolution ...
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Article
Kodak Pension Plan to set up new DB scheme
The Kodak Pension Plan (KPP) is to launch a new defined benefit pension scheme for its members.Almost all (92%) of the previous scheme’s members voted in favour of the establishment of the new plan, while less than 1% voted to enter the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) and 7% have yet ...
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Article
JLT Employee Benefits completes DB pension buy-in
JLT Employee Benefits has completed a buy-in contract with Prudential for its defined benefit (DB) pension scheme.The JLT UK Group Pension Scheme, which has liabilities of £120 million, has purchased an annuity to secure future benefit payments, reducing the volatility of the scheme’s projected funding requirements.The scheme has around 4,000 ...
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Article
Mills & Reeve aligns auto-enrolment with flexible benefits
EXCLUSIVE: Mills and Reeve has aligned pensions auto-enrolment with its annual flexible benefits enrolment window.The law firm has 888 UK employees, but will also include 80 new employees who are part of the June 2013 merger with law firm George Davis.Samantha Neaves, reward and HR information systems manager, said: “Following ...
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Article
Ineos Refining consults on DB pension closure
Ineos Refining is consulting with employees on the closure of its defined benefit (DB) pension scheme.If it does not do so, it faces the risk of having to close its Grangemouth petrochemicals plant near Falkirk, Scotland. The plant, which provides nearly all of Scotland’s petrol and diesel, will close before ...
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Article
Increased openness to wider pension investment strategies
More than a third (40%) of respondents are open to the idea of investing in new asset classes, according to research by Aon Hewitt.The consultancy’s survey of more than 750 delegates at its annual pension conferences highlighted the increasing willingness of trustees to consider a wider range of asset classes ...
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Article
Midcounties Co-op appoints Towers Watson
The Midcounties Co-operative has appointed Towers Watson to manage the investment portfolio of its £145-million defined benefit pension scheme.Towers Watson’s delegated investment service provides an integrated approach to managing assets against liabilities for all sizes of pension funds.Chris Ford, Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) head of investment at Towers ...
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Article
Tesco pension deficit rises to £2.4bn
Tesco has reported a net pension deficit of £2.4 billion, a rise from the £1.8 billion deficit reported at the last year end on 30 March 2013.The retailer’s Interim results 2013/14 reported that this was due mainly to the reduction in real corporate bond yields leading to a fall of ...
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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 ...