August 2017

22Aug

UK. Ex-BHS owner Dominic Chappell prosecuted by pensions regulator

Dominic Chappell, the former owner of BHS, is to be prosecuted by the pensions watchdog for failing to provide information for an investigation into its sale. Chappell headed Retail Acquisitions, the company that acquired BHS for £1 from Sir Philip Green in 2015. A year later, it collapsed with the loss of 11,000 jobs and a pension deficit of as much as £571m. The Pensions Regulator is prosecuting Chappell for failing to comply with three notices for information issued under Section...

August 22, 2017
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22Aug

UK government announces measures to tackle pension cold-calling

It is hoped that this “two-pronged” attack on scammers will not only put a hurdle in the way in which fraudsters contact would be retirees, but will also limit their options in getting access to savings. Former pensions minister, Baroness Ros Altmann, said: “The government has bowed to the overwhelming pressure from politicians, consumer groups and the pensions industry to urgently introduce a ban on pensions cold-calling. “This is great news. It is also going to toughen rules on transfers out...

August 22, 2017
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15Aug

UK. Pension rights after a TUPE transfer

The legislation governing transfers of employment originally attempted to exclude pension rights from the scope of a transfer under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE). Regulation 10 of TUPE states that the general employment protection provided on a TUPE transfer does not apply to “so much of a contract of employment or a collective agreement as relates to an occupational pension scheme”. The regulation states that rights that do not relate to “old age, invalidity...

August 15, 2017
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15Aug

UK. Home Industry Life Lloyds Bank… Lloyds Bank may expand into pensions and wealth management

UK high street bank Lloyds, which owns Scottish Widows, may be about to announce a major push into pension and investment products as part of a three-year growth plan. The Financial Times reported over the weekend that the bank was looking to capitalise on its position as Britain’s only integrated high street bancassurer, which allows it to provide wealth and retirement services to its retail customer base. Mario Mazzocchi, a pensions and investment director at Lloyds’ Scottish Widows business, told the...

August 15, 2017
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14Aug

UK. Eye on the fees: State pension funds are getting better management

It’s a start. Keep going. That was the message that state Auditor General Eugene DePasquale and state Treasurer Joe Torsella last week gave to the State Employees’ Retirement System, which operates the pension fund for retired state workers. While SERS’ efforts to spend less money on managers has borne fruit — it shelled out $167 million last year, compared to $345 million in 2007 — Mr. DePasquale issued an audit urging the system to cut some more. Mr. Torsella issued a...

August 14, 2017
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14Aug

UK. Poverty risk in old age from pension ignorance

People are putting themselves at risk of poverty in old age by failing to properly calculate their pensions, a state watchdog has warned. Ger Deering, the pensions ombudsman, has expressed concern that many workers are finding themselves with inadequate provisions because they do not put enough time and effort into understanding their retirement packages. “In our experience many scheme members are not familiar enough with the terms applying under their pension scheme or the basis of computing benefits,” Mr Deering...

August 14, 2017
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10Aug

UK. Tata Steel Set to Offload £15 Billion Pension Fund

Global steel producer Tata Steel is poised to offload its £15 billion ($19,5 billion) British Steel retirement fund to the U.K.'s Pension Protection Fund, with a formal announcement expected on Friday, according to a trade union spokesman. The news follows the company's confirmation in March that it would close its existing defined benefit scheme. Since April 1, British Steel has been offering employees a defined contribution scheme in its place. The British Steel Pension Fund has around 13,000 members. In its quarterly...

August 10, 2017
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09Aug

UK. Pensioners’ incomes rapidly catching up with workers’ after retirement earnings triple in 40 years

Retired households have tripled their incomes in the past 40 years, substantially narrowing the gap in earnings with working-age households. Back in 1977 the average pensioner household’s income was £10,500 (in 2016 prices, which account for inflation), just 52pc of the £20,200 earned by non-retired households. But by the financial year ending in 2016 those pensioners’ incomes had risen to £29,500, according to the Office for National Statistics. By contrast, non-retired households’ incomes had only doubled, rising to £41,900 on average. On average...

August 9, 2017
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08Aug

Surprise fall in UK inflation wipes £9bn off pension deficits

That is according to Mercer’s latest Pensions Risk Survey data, which shows that their liabilities decreased by £4bn to £865bn during that time, while asset values increased by £5bn to £743bn. This comes after the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed an unexpected fall in inflation for June, which is thought to have reduced market implied inflation over July. “The trend of improvements continues during July, and was largely driven by a small reduction in market expectations for long-term inflation, which...

August 8, 2017
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07Aug

Uk. Ageing population to make productivity crisis worse

Britain’s productivity crisis risks getting worse because the population is ageing steadily, leaving relatively fewer younger, more dynamic workers who typically innovate more. Unless drastic action is taken to boost skills and creativity, or to increase the number of young workers, then growth will struggle to pick up, according to new economic research published in the journal of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research. “The share of young workers impacts the innovation process positively and, as a result, a...

August 7, 2017
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