Regulation

Regulator guidance on enhanced transfer value exercises could force trustees and sponsoring employers to collude on offer terms to meet compliance standards, Mercer say.

UK - The final salary link in public service pensions is 'inherently unfair' and can lead to high flyers getting almost twice as much back in pensions than those on more modest earnings for the same amount of pension contributions, Lord John Hutton says....

EUROPE - Strong returns on European long-term savings are being hampered by an expensive and "highly inefficient" pensions market, the European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA) said.

UK/US - The Pensions Regulator's determinations panel has issued its reasons for chasing Lehman Brothers subsidiaries with a financial support direction.

The Pensions Regulator's determinations panel has issued its reasons for chasing Lehman Brothers subsidiaries with a financial support direction.

Nortel Networks and Lehman Brothers have joined forces to challenge The Pensions Regulator's ability to issue them with a financial support direction.

US - Marsh & McLennan, Mercer's parent company, has agreed to pay $4.75m to settle a suit brought by the Ohio attorney general alleging the firm conspired to eliminate competition in the commercial casualty insurance industry.

IRELAND - Ireland's defined-benefit pension schemes risk closure because they cannot meet the "draconian" minimum funding standard set by the Pensions Board, employers claim.

The Pensions Regulator's ability to enforce its financial support direction against six Lehman Brothers subsidiaries is questionable due to ongoing insolvency proceedings, lawyers say.

The Pensions Regulator's determinations panel has ruled six subsidiaries in the Lehman Brothers group should provide financial support to the pension scheme.