News

Scrapping contracting-out for defined contribution schemes will drain more than £50bn from the pensions industry leading to a "significant" reduction for administrators and fund managers, government says.

Government poised to make deepest cuts ever to public sector pensions; Royal Mail write-off looms to drive sale

Trustees of HMV's pension scheme are in discussions with the retailer over its intended £53m sale of the Waterstone's book chain.

Pub group Mitchells & Butlers has closed its defined benefit pension scheme to future accrual helping it cut the fund's deficit by £112m in the last year.

NEW ZEALAND - The government's 2011/2012 proposed budget will halve matching tax credits for members' voluntary contributions to KiwiSaver while increasing employer and employee contributions to the scheme.

Aegon UK is to cut 213 jobs and outsource a further 106 within its life and pensions business as part of a cost-cutting exercise.

AUSTRALIA - the AU$32bn (US$34.2bn) AustralianSuper fund has inked deals with six advisory firms to provide members with limited financial advisory services, a first-ever partnership for industry superannuation funds.

Michael Johnson has reignited calls for limiting pensions tax relief, saying the annual £29bn saved by the Treasury from tax relief could increase the state pension by 60%.

CANADA - The Canada Pension Plan (CPP) ended the fiscal year with a C$20.6bn ($21bn) increase in assets under management, marking an all-time high for the fund.

GLOBAL - Have you missed the biggest stories in pensions this week? Find out below, as we list the top 10 most popular stories on www.globalpensions.com over the past seven days.