UK Archives - Page 85 of 188 - Pension Policy International

19OctOctober 19, 2022

UK. Pension triple lock at risk as Truss warns of ‘difficult decisions’

Number 10 has refused to commit to the state pension triple lock, after Liz Truss promised to keep the measure just weeks ago. Truss’ spokesperson refused four times to say Truss would uphold the triple lock, which would ensure state pension payments stay in line with inflation next year. New chancellor Jeremy Hunt warned yesterday that public spending is not going to rise by “as much as people hoped” and he today told cabinet ministers to “find efficiencies” in their departments. Hunt...

October 19, 2022

NewsIncome, Public Pensions, UK

17OctOctober 17, 2022

US Public Pensions Unlikely to Face UK Pension-Style Crisis

U.S. state and local pensions are unlikely to face the sudden liquidity crisis that U.K. corporate pensions are confronting given their different approaches to valuing liabilities and the resulting differences in investment strategies, Fitch Ratings says. However, U.S. public pension funds’ investment return assumptions incentivize higher yielding asset investments, posing the risk of deeper losses in a market downturn. State and local government pensions discount their liabilities using the same fixed long-term investment return rate that they assume for their...

October 17, 2022

NewsPension Management, UK, US

17OctOctober 17, 2022

U.K. Pensions Doom Loop May Not Be Over

Rebalancing pension portfolios in the wake of the LDI crisis may prove difficult. The Bank of England’s short-term bond-buying program ended on October 14, but that may not mean the end of the problems plaguing U.K. pensions. On Monday, the Bank of England made a series of announcements that were ostensibly designed to outline an “orderly end” to its support. To date, the bank has carried out eight daily auctions, offering to buy up to £40 billion, (US$44.40 billion) and has...

October 17, 2022

NewsPension Management, Regulation, UK

14OctOctober 14, 2022

UK. Pension watchdog examining LDI data amid gilts crisis

The watchdog overseeing U.K. retirement plans is conducting new analysis and reviewing information it already has from previous work with pension funds in efforts to build on its understanding of the liability-driven investment landscape. Charles Counsell, CEO at The Pensions Regulator, wrote in a letter to the government's Work and Pensions Committee on Wednesday that the regulator's investment consultants and actuaries are conducting the new analysis, which includes requesting data from a number of pension funds. The supervision team is...

October 14, 2022

NewsInvestment, Regulation, UK

13OctOctober 13, 2022

UK. Pension reforms could add £4k to retirement income, says PLSA

The Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association has called for action and warned that without reform of the pension system, over half of savers will fail to meet the retirement income targets set by the Pensions Commission in 2005. In a report released today (October 12), the PLSA proposed five reforms that it said will help millions of people achieve a better income in retirement. If acted on, a median earner would see their pension income increase from around £15,000 a...

October 13, 2022

NewsAdequacy, Regulation, UK

12OctOctober 12, 2022

UK. Bank of England’s Bailey tells pension funds they have 3 days to rebalance

Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey told pension fund managers to finish rebalancing their positions by Friday when the British central bank is due to end its emergency support programme for the county's fragile bond market. Read also UK. Pension watchdog examining LDI data amid gilts crisis "We have announced that we will be out by the end of this week. We think the rebalancing must be done," Bailey said at an event organised by the Institute of International Finance in...

October 12, 2022

NewsPension Management, UK

10OctOctober 10, 2022

UK. Bank of England Announces Extra Steps to Help Pension Funds

The Bank of England announced extra measures on Monday to support pension funds hit by the sharp falls in U.K. government prices in recent weeks. The Bank, which had set up a 65 billion-pound ($72 billion) liquidity facility to keep the Gilt market functioning at the end of September, said it will increase the daily limit for the auctions at which it has bought Gilts for the last two weeks. The Bank has been sparing in its purchases so far, buying...

October 10, 2022

NewsRegulation, UK

07OctOctober 7, 2022

UK. Bank of England says pension funds were hours from disaster before it intervened

The Bank of England told lawmakers that a number of pension funds were hours from collapse when it decided to intervene in the U.K. long-dated bond market last week. The central bank’s Financial Policy Committee stepped in after a massive sell-off of U.K. government bonds — known as “gilts” — following the new government’s fiscal policy announcements on Sept. 23. The emergency measures included a two-week purchase program for long-dated bonds and the delay of the bank’s planned gilt sales, part...

October 7, 2022

NewsPension Management, UK

06OctOctober 6, 2022

UK. LDI Fallout Will Spur Pension Funds to Seek Life Sector Arrangements

The sudden need for pension funds to put up large amounts of extra collateral due to tumbling gilt prices will lead more UK defined-benefit pension funds to favour pension risk transfer deals with life insurers over liability-driven investment (LDI) arrangements with asset managers, Fitch Ratings says. The rapid drop in gilt prices following the UK’s ‘mini-Budget’ on 23 September led to a sharp increase in collateral requirements from many LDI funds as derivative contracts protecting against lower interest rates moved...

October 6, 2022

NewsPension Management, Risk, UK

06OctOctober 6, 2022

UK. Green pensions increasingly important to workers

Workers are favouring companies that offer green pension plans, according to research from Scottish Widows. Almost a quarter (25%) of employees named green pensions as one of the top benefits they would expect from a new employer. Nearly three quarters (72%) of employees said it was important for their company to invest their savings sustainably, demonstrating a commitment to taking environmental and social issues seriously. Despite the demand from workers, the report showed 34% of employers don't currently offer a sustainable pension...

October 6, 2022

NewsESG, Pension design, UK

October 2022