20 years on, Boots clearly led the way with LDI

Headline news in 2001 is now good news for members, says James Mullins

clock • 3 min read
James Mullins is head of risk transfer solutions at Hymans Robertson
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James Mullins is head of risk transfer solutions at Hymans Robertson

20 years ago, in the autumn of 2001, the Boots Pension Scheme hit the headlines because it had invested all of its assets in high quality long-dated bonds, selling over £1bn of equities in the process. I was only three years into my pensions career at the time but I remember being fascinated by this ground-breaking development.

At the time, it was a unique and surprising thing to do, because there was little focus on managing pension scheme investment risk. Indeed, in 2001, pension schemes in the UK invested 75% of their ...

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