Pensions Management back issues from January 2007:
News: PTA reversal impact reduced.
Jan 01, 2007 ... Byline: Ruth Emery PRE-BUDGET REPORT Gordon Brown's latest actions has left scores of insurers, advisers and consumers confused and disappointed as he announced a possible U-turn on pension term assurance (PTA). Looking to reverse rules brought in on A-day ...
News in Brief: Free adviser guide.
Jan 01, 2007 ... Defaqto has launched a free guide aimed at helping financial advisers understand the different types of multi-manager and how ...
News in Brief: Selestia regulars.
Jan 01, 2007 ... Selestia customers can now make regular payments to the Selestia Collective Retirement Account, with monthly GBP300 ...
News in Brief: Equities on the rise.
Jan 01, 2007 ... Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP) expects more gains in the equity market in 2007. Although it foresees the UK economy ...
News in Brief: It's up to the govt.
Jan 01, 2007 ... Twenty-five per cent of UK working adults think the government should be responsible for ensuring retirement ...
News: Investment Spotlight - An upbeat outlook for the New Year dollar.
Jan 01, 2007 ... Byline: Collin Crownover Head of currency management, State Street Global Advisors Head of currency management, State Street Global Advisors News: Investment Spotlight - An upbeat outlook for the New Year dollar As we wind down the year, the biggest question in the ...
News: Mirabaud protects performance.
Jan 01, 2007 ... Mirabaud Investment Management, the Swiss-owned UK equity specialist boutique, has closed to new business in order to safeguard its performance levels. This follows an outstanding year in 2006, in which the manager attracted GBP700m of assets, contributing to record funds under ...
News: Confusion over age laws.
Jan 01, 2007 ... Byline: Antoinette Odoi AGE DISCRIMINATION The government's decision to deny companies and trustees a period of grace to implement the pensions aspects of the age discrimination laws has led to different levels of compliance and raised doubts as to whether some ...
News: Contingent assets are the future, says Aon.
Jan 01, 2007 ... Byline: Ruth Emery ASSETS Pension schemes will make greater use of contingent assets in the future, according to Aon Consulting, as it launches a Pension Protection Fund- approved insurance product. The firm found that in a survey of 140 schemes, 50% had ...
News: Tools needed for regulation.
Jan 01, 2007 ... Byline: Ruth Emery REGULATION Trustees need better tools to meet requirements set by the Pensions Regulator, as a survey reveals out-of-date technology and a crippling lack of training among pension schemes. Research by governance systems provider eShare ...
Scheme Briefs.
Jan 01, 2007 ... - LCP Due to gremlins in the system, PM gave the wrong email contact for the LCP prudence index in the last issue. The correct address is lcpprudenceindex@lcp.uk.com - ARLINGTON SECURITIES Arlington Securities has won a E10m mandate from the Members of the ...
News: Study exposes DB risk extent.
Jan 01, 2007 ... Byline: Padraig Floyd DEFINED BENEFIT The Pensions Protection Fund and the Pensions Regulator have collaborated to produce a joint study into the current state of defined benefit (DB) pension provision. It found that while the majority of schemes (58%) ...
News: Too much hype over buyout claims.
Jan 01, 2007 ... Byline: Ruth Emery BULK BUYOUT The noise around the new bulk buyout players in the pensions industry has prompted one consultant to take a swing at the "hype" over Paternoster, and other firms to declare the market movement as "evolution, not revolution". ...
News: Lawyers 'were the winners on A-day'.
Jan 01, 2007 ... Byline: Antoinette Odoi SIMPLIFICATION Lawyers are perceived to be the biggest winners post-simplification, according to a recent survey by Capita Hartshead. The survey of 109 pensions professionals revealed that only 20% believe members were the main ...
Comment: Sharp End - G60 is dead! Long live AF3!
Jan 01, 2007 ... Byline: Peter Williams Since first introduced, the most popular qualification for those wanting to be authorised as a pension transfer specialist (PTS) has been the Chartered Insurance Institute's (CII's) G60 examination. The success of this module of the Advanced Financial ...
Comment: The Bee Side - The golden days are long gone.
Jan 01, 2007 ... Byline: Steve Bee I was at a European pension conference the other week where I was hoping to get myself up to date on the big issues around the big Euro pension questions. You know, like do the Dutch have a pension cap? And that sort of thing. As far as I could tell most people ...
Comment: Soapbox - It's more than just advice.
Jan 01, 2007 ... Byline: Robert Hudson The government's plan for auto-enrolment and the introduction of the NPSS has, if nothing else, ensured pension saving has remained on the front page of most retail and industry publications. In the same way as the Sipp market benefited from ...
Comment: Investment Comment - A skilful performance.
Jan 01, 2007 ... Byline: Mark Matthews For asset managers it is generally easy to track a market and hard to beat it. Defined benchmarks can be mirrored efficiently via index futures, total return swaps, exchange-traded funds or managed tracking portfolios. Given the ability to replicate ...
Comment: From Westminster - Looking to the future.
Jan 01, 2007 ... Byline: James Purnell For all those involved in the drive towards reforming our pension system, 2007 promises to be a productive year. In particular, the recent personal accounts white paper outlined measures that will provide a framework for tackling the issue of ...
Comment: Profile - Pensions a la Mody.
Jan 01, 2007 ... Byline: Antoinette Odoi Who were the main speakers at the last conference you attended? Chances are either you don't remember, or you remember their names but not their faces. This isn't the case with Raj Mody, partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). Speaking at a ...
Comment: Legal Update - Drawing the legal line.
Jan 01, 2007 ... Byline: Jason Shaw This month I will be looking at a selection of recent ombudsman determinations covering a wide range of issues. These include the overpayment of benefits, ill health, and a failure to provide a transfer quote, which resulted in the ombudsman reporting the ...
Survey: Everything's coming up roses.
Jan 01, 2007 ... Byline: Antoinette Odoi What a difference a year makes. Having seemed destined to spend its life in the shadow of its more successful cousin the self-invested personal pension (Sipp), it seems the small self-administered pension scheme (SSAS) has been attracting attention of ...
Feature: Give and take.
Jan 01, 2007 ... Byline: David Seaton Small self-administered schemes (SSAS) have always been seen by financial advisers, accountants and company directors as useful tools for both managing company profits and flexible retirement planning. A SSAS offers the flexibility of being able ...
Feature: Hedge funds give Hermes wings.
Jan 01, 2007 ... Byline: Padraig Floyd There have been many major influences on the investment management world in recent years, but few elicit the range or strength of reaction as the name Myners, following the publication of the celebrated report. Of course, the reason for such ...
Q&A: Hedge Funds.
Jan 01, 2007 ... THE QUESTIONS 1. At what stage of adoption of hedge funds are UK pension funds? How comfortable are they with such investments? 2. In addition to Myners, how and why are hedge funds suitable for pension funds in the UK? Are there certain types of schemes for whom ...
Feature: Cornering the market.
Jan 01, 2007 ... Byline: Stewart Cowe Along with real estate investment trusts (Reits), property derivatives have become the hot topic among property investors over the last year. Although you could be forgiven for thinking that derivatives in this asset class are completely new, they have ...
People on the Move: Metcalfe for First State.
Jan 01, 2007 ... Colonial First State Global Asset Management has announced Charlie Metcalfe as the new chief executive officer for First State Investments. Metcalfe will direct the company's focus across Europe and North America and oversee and implement new strategies. ...
People on the Move: Turtle leaves Butterfield.
Jan 01, 2007 ... Managing director of Butterfield Bank, Paul Turtle, is to step down at the end of the month, but will remain a non-executive director. President and chief executive Alan Thompson said: "Under [Turtle's] leadership, Butterfield Private Bank ...
People on the Move: People Briefs.
Jan 01, 2007 ... Truestone Asset Management has poached Neil Sandy from Barclays Wealth Management (BWM) to be director and chief operating officer. Sandy was customer services director at BWM and has 17 years' wealth management experience. Nigel Storer will lead Aberdeen Asset Managers' new ...
Editor's Letter.
Jan 01, 2007 ... Byline: Padraig Floyd, editor Now that Christmas is over, you are probably sitting at your desk caught somewhere between the elation of having escaped your family/armchair/rich food or plumbing the depths of despair because there's just so much to do. But it isn't ...
News: White paper receives broad industry praise.
Jan 01, 2007 ... Byline: Ruth Emery WHITE PAPER The industry has applauded the government for listening to its concerns over the National Pension Savings Scheme (NPSS), but warned the white paper still contains risks of levelling down and problems for low earners. The ...
News: NPSS 0.3% charge could be risky.
Jan 01, 2007 ... Byline: Ruth Emery NPSS The 0.3% annual management charge mooted for the National Pensions Savings Scheme (NPSS) has been branded "highly dangerous" by pension experts, amid fears the failure of stakeholder will be repeated. Alasdair Buchanan, group head ...
News: White Paper Opinions.
Jan 01, 2007 ... "Attention now shifts to the new delivery authority, which must ensure both that personal accounts will succeed and that the rest of the pensions market can continue to grow and flourish. The authority must be expert and it must consult properly." Stephen Haddrill, director ...
News: Experts slam ASP advice.
Jan 01, 2007 ... Byline: Antoinette Odoi PRE-BUDGET REPORT Pensions experts have condemned government guidelines on the use of alternatively secured pension (ASP), branding them ill thought out and draconian. From April 6 ASP users must withdraw a yearly minimum income and ...
News in Brief: PPF PUBLISHES PAPER.
Jan 01, 2007 ... The Pension Protection Fund published its consultation document on whether to ...
News: Investment Spotlight - Fund managers and IFAs go head-to-head.
Jan 01, 2007 ... Byline: Annabel Brodie-Smith Communications director, AIC Communications director, AIC News: Investment Spotlight - Fund managers and IFAs go head-to-head As another year ends and a new one begins, it's always a good time to take stock, but from a fund management ...
News: Experts welcome PBR's Reits ruling.
Jan 01, 2007 ... Byline: Antoinette Odoi REITS While the pre-Budget report (PBR) has had its detractors, its content on real estate investment trusts (Reits) has largely met with approval. The change will effectively give new Reits a one-year period of grace during which ...
News: Gilt doubts linger after PBR.
Jan 01, 2007 ... Byline: Antoinette Odoi GILTS The pre-Budget report (PBR) has left bond managers cold after it failed to provide concrete answers on how the shortage of long-dated gilts can be resolved. The report announced that pre-allocated, conventional, long-gilt ...
News: Diversify and survive.
Jan 01, 2007 ... Byline: Padraig Floyd ASSET TRENDS The trend of UK pension schemes abandoning traditional long-only mandates in favour of more diverse asset classes is likely to lead to "significant changes" at fund management companies, according to research by Watson Wyatt. ...
News: IMA welcomes tax study.
Jan 01, 2007 ... The announcement by economic secretary Ed Balls MP, that a joint Treasury/industry working group is to be formed to study the impact of taxation on the fund management industry, has been welcomed by the Investment Management Association (IMA). The group will examine issues ...
News in Brief: Exaxe web help.
Jan 01, 2007 ... Exaxe has launched a Sipp illustration module for ...
News in Brief: More adviser aid.
Jan 01, 2007 ... As part of its approach to TCF, Clerical Medical has launched OFFIS - Offshore Illustration System - to ...
News in Brief: Zeus goes private.
Jan 01, 2007 ... Manchester-based corporate finance house, Zeus Capital, has formed Zeus Partners, a private ...
News: Wrap has long-term future.
Jan 01, 2007 ... Byline: Padraig Floyd WRAP The future of wrap looks to be assured in the shape of group and international wrap, even if the individual offering takes several years to bed in, according to one industry expert. In an interview with PM, Trevor Matthews, ...
News: Spotlight on Pensions Reform - Earnings offsets may fall foul of age laws.
Jan 01, 2007 ... Byline: Chris Bellers Pensions technical manager, Friends Provident Pensions technical manager, Friends Provident News: Spotlight on Pensions Reform - Earnings offsets may fall foul of age laws NOW that 1 December is behind us, employers with pension schemes should ...
Comment: Fixed Income Comment - Bonds mean excitement.
Jan 01, 2007 ... Byline: Neil Sutherland Bond managers have always been regarded as something of a dull bunch, clipping their coupons and poring over equations. However, the successful fixed manager of today has to become a whole lot more exciting to perform in an increasingly demanding ...
Comment: Annuities Comment - Bring on the competition.
Jan 01, 2007 ... Byline: Mark Wood There is a new financial market emerging. Accelerating life expectancy and a stricter accounting regime for the disclosure of pension liabilities are amongst the key factors forcing this new market to life. The imposition of a levy to finance the ...
Comment: Face to Face - Commitment and vision.
Jan 01, 2007 ... Byline: Padraig Floyd It's been 18 months since PM last had a decent chinwag with Trevor Matthews, the chief executive of Standard Life's life and pensions business, and in that time Standard Life has gone through a lot of change. There's been the demutualisation ...
Survey: Onwards and Upwards.
Jan 01, 2007 ... Byline: Ruth Emery The UK multi-manager (MM) market is booming - we have the third largest MM market in the world and there is plenty of room for further growth as only 3% of total UK pension assets are invested in MM funds. The market is so appealing it attracted two ...
Feature: Winds of change.
Jan 01, 2007 ... Byline: Sophie Horsfall The Stern Review on the economics of climate change has identified both corporate losers and the massive growth opportunities that lie in the global market for low-carbon technologies. Fund managers are facing an unprecedented opportunity to ...
People on the Move: Ex-Bank of England deputy director joins Defaqto.
Jan 01, 2007 ... Defaqto Group has appointed Rupert Pennant-Rea, former editor of The Economist and former deputy governor of the Bank of England, as chairman. Pennant-Rea, who is also chairman of Henderson Group and director of various other companies, said: "Defaqto has already made great ...
People on the Move: Stocker becomes actuarial partner at LCP.
Jan 01, 2007 ... Mark Stocker has taken up the reins as partner in Lane Clark & Peacock's (LCP) London actuarial team. Stocker had been at Mercer Human Resource Consulting since 1987, and became principal and head of professional affairs in 2005. He also occupied an account manager ...