The trustees of defined benefit pension funds could receive more than £100bn in deficit reduction payments from their corporate sponsors over the next three years, or 13% of UK corporate cash holdings, according to a survey of more than 170 trustees and pension professionals, representing...
Defined benefit pension liabilities on the schemes of 40 of the UK's largest charities total almost £5bn, as calculated on an FRS 17 basis, according to the May edition of Charity Finance magazine. Backing these liabilities are pension scheme assets of around £4.2bn, resulting in an...
The Trustee of the Uniq plc Pension Scheme has received its withdrawal notice from Pension Protection Fund (PPF) assessment.
The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has today issued a report explaining the role it played in the process. Its executive director for defined benefit regulation, Stephen...
Pensions de-risking deals undertaken by the FTSE-350 last year resulted in a share price rise of 8% on average, according to research conducted by law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. The findings suggest the markets are starting to wake up to the considerable long-term benefits of...
The Pensions Regulator has made a Financial Support Direction requiring ITV to provide support for the Boxclever Group Pension Scheme, which has a deficit of £62m.
The Box Clever joint venture was set up in 2000 as a merger of the declining Granada and Thorn TV rental businesses.
Box Clever...
The aggregate deficit of the 6,533 schemes in the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) 7800 index is estimated to have increased over the month to £255.2bn at the end of December 2011, from a deficit of £222.1bn at the end of November. The funding ratio fell from 81.9% to 80.0%.
Total assets...
Asset backed financing for pension schemes (where a sponsoring employer uses business assets to generate cash which is then paid to the pension scheme) continues to grow, with contributions of over £5bn in the last two years, accounting for around 20% of total deficit contributions made,...
FTSE 100 company pension schemes have increased their longevity assumptions for their pensioners for the fifth consecutive year, according to new survey data from Mercer. The increase is estimated to add approximately 1% to scheme liabilities.
The report showed that FTSE 100 companies had...
Despite recent market volatility almost doubling UK FTSE 100 pension deficits to £70bn, the outlook for FTSE 100 companies on pensions is broadly positive, according to KPMG’s 2011 Pensions Repayment Monitor.
The KPMG research found that, as of the end of their last financial year,...
The accounting standards currently used to calculate companies’ pensions assets and liabilities are undermining pensions provision in the UK, according to a new report Accounting for Pensions.
The report by Dr Iain Clacher, lecturer in accounting and finance, and Professor Peter Moizer,...
The costs for UK pension schemes transferring liabilities into the buyout market have reached a record high, according to Aon Hewitt.
The collective final salary pension accounting deficit of the UK’s FTSE 350 companies stands at around £40bn and has been at this level for much of...
Unless they begin to plan properly now, smaller schemes will not be able to cope with the impact of extreme market volatility in the future, Eamonn O’Connor, head of investment at Bluefin, warns.
“Current market volatility has dealt a double blow to UK pension schemes,” ...
The shift to the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) as the pension indexation measure has created a windfall for some companies that have seen liabilities reduce dramatically. BT has seen a huge £3.5bn decrease in liabilities in their 2011 accounts due to this change, according to the 18th annual...
The combined pension deficits of Britain’s biggest companies plummeted by almost two thirds in the past year according to the 18th annual LCP Accounting for Pensions report, published today, reveals that the aggregate FTSE 100 pension deficit now stands at £19bn, down from £51bn...
Companies are overpaying into defined benefit pension schemes, with funding targets more than 10% higher than necessary, according to research by PwC. Across corporate UK, the level of overpayments could total at least £5bn a year.
Outmoded ways of calculating the contributions needed to...
The Pensions Regulator (TPR)’s action to protect retirement savers and promote high standards across the pensions sector is set out in its latest annual report and accounts 2010-11.
TPR’s chair Michael O’Higgins said: “The impact of global economic turbulence on pensions...
The auditor should be a critical friend to trustees, offering practical advice and understanding argues Giles Mullins, Grant Thornton
All too often the audit is seen as a compliance exercise and, in large part, this is due to the way in which the profession has responded to the regulatory and legal framework in which it operates. However, stakeholders are increasingly taking an interest in what we do.
While it is unfortunate...
As many as 10% of the FTSE 100 may benefit from changes by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) to the IAS 19 standard according to research from PensionsFirst.
It has been widely reported that the key changes – which include removing the current expected return on scheme...
Changes in rules for accounting for company pension costs (IAS 19) published on 16 June 2011 may prompt companies to review their pension plan asset allocation and investors to review the effect of pensions risk on companies.
The latest rules on pensions accounting which come into force in 2013...
Is inflation a problem for pension funds?
Today’s news from the Office for National Statistics that the UK Consumer Prices Index (CPI) annual rate of inflation held steady in May at 4.5% while the Retail Prices Index (RPI) measure of inflation - which includes mortgage interest payments...
