February 2019

28Feb

UK. Pension trustee admits stealing £280,000 from pension scheme

An accountant and pension trustee being prosecuted for fraud by The Pensions Regulator has admitted stealing over £280,000 from a pension scheme. TPR says the accountant used the scheme like a “personal piggy bank.” In TPR’s inaugural fraud prosecution it heard Roger William Bessent plead guilty to five counts of fraud and two counts of making employer-related investments at Preston Crown Court today. The regulator will ask for three other counts of employer-related investments to be left to lie...

February 28, 2019
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26Feb

UK. Urgent need for real estate industry to adapt to ageing population, report shows

The report, which was written by Professor Les Mayhew of the Cass Business School, at City University, examined the impact that increasing life expectancy will have on UK society and found that too many older people are living in unsuitable housing. This perpetuates the housing crisis and stores up problems for the future. The UK population is expected to increase by 10 million over the next 25 years, with much of that due to people living longer. This has...

February 26, 2019
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21Feb

Putting workers before investors makes DB schemes affordable

Companies would be able to afford defined benefit schemes if their bosses were forced to pay into them before they pay out to shareholders, new research showed. According to a study from Sun Yat-sen University, Exeter University and Lancaster University Management School – which examined around 1,655 companies from 2003 to 2011 - incentivising executives to fund their pension schemes was more likely to see the schemes survive than threatening bosses with prison sentences. Amber Rudd, secretary for work...

February 21, 2019
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20Feb

Brexit pensions saved after deal between Irish and UK governments

Brexit pensions worries are eased after deal between Irish and UK governmentsFood tariffs threat  to rural heartlandMinisters on alert for UK crash-out The governments of Ireland and Britain have guaranteed the continued payment of state pensions, child benefit and other social welfare payments in the event of the UK crashing out of the EU without a deal. Thousands of people living here get pensions and other payments from Britain, while Ireland also pays people who live in the UK. Now a legally...

February 20, 2019
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19Feb

Munich Re closes longevity swap deal with Lafarge pension scheme

German reinsurer Munich Re has completed a longevity swap deal with the Trustee of Lafarge UK Pension Plan, the UK pension scheme of French industrial company Lafarge. The arrangement is intended to reduce the Plan’s exposure to longevity risk, which arises when pensioners live longer than expected and thus claim more money on their retirement plans. Lafarge identified longevity risk as the largest individual risk in its plan due to its focus on defined benefit (DB) schemes, which pay...

February 19, 2019
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15Feb

UK expats in EU could face frozen pensions

Brits across the EU could lose their special status and have their state pensions frozen if an agreement is not reached between the EU and UK ahead of the 29 March. Currently, people living in countries that do not have reciprocal agreements with the UK, or don’t have legal requirements for expat pensions, will not receive yearly increases (uprates) in their state pension. There are currently around 510,000 people receiving this payment abroad, with 84% of them having retired...

February 15, 2019
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13Feb

UK. ‘Fraudster families’ target pension savers

Organised crime groups led by married couples or families are running pension scams worth millions of pounds. The ‘fraudster families’ often hire rogue financial experts to run the large-scale scams on their behalf. Victims of these scams lost an average of £91,000 each to fraudsters in 2017 but some people have lost much more. They reported receiving cold-calls, offers of free pension reviews and promises that they would get high rates of return – which are all key warning...

February 13, 2019
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12Feb

Are businesses matching green efforts with climate-safe staff pensions?

Only a small number of FTSE 100 firms' pension schemes have shifted their investment approach to take account of climate-related risks, ShareAction research finds The retirement savings of hundreds of thousands of workers could be "highly exposed" to climate-related risks, with some of the UK's biggest company pension schemes sticking with investment strategies that fail to address exposure to carbon intensive assets. That is the key conclusion from research by ShareAction published today which warns companies are failing to...

February 12, 2019
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12Feb

United Kingdom: PS pension study postponed

A decision by the UK Government to delay part of its work on the valuation of Public Service pensions has sparked an angry response from unions. Critics of the move say it is simply a stalling measure to deny improvements to members’ benefits. Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Liz Truss (pictured) told Parliament that a December judgement from the Court of Appeal on “transactional protection” offered to some scheme members could have a £4 billion (A$7.1 billion) a year...

February 12, 2019
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11Feb

UK. Seven years in jail for bosses who recklessly risk pensions

Devil-may-care directors who recklessly put workers’ pensions at risk will face up to 7 years in prison or unlimited fines. A new criminal offence of ‘wilful or reckless behaviour’ in relation to pensions will be introduced under the proposals to crack down on abuse of final or average salary schemes. Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Amber Rudd, said: The vast majority of bosses take their responsibilities seriously and look after their workers’ retirement funds. However, for too...

February 11, 2019
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