News

The Pension Protection Fund and similar lifeboat funds are "dangerous black holes", the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development says.

Pension funds are experiencing a second wave of innovation in the liability-driven investment market, as pension schemes increasingly use derivatives to gain synthetic exposure to asset classes, Redington Partners says.

A Court of Appeal judgment relating to a pension discrimination dispute dating back to 1995 has been referred back to the employment tribunal where it first began.

US - A former Chicago money manager has been ordered to repay five Michigan pension funds US$50m after it was alleged he misappropriated pension fund assets to invest in a strip club and horse farm.

UK - Railpen Investments - which manages the assets of the Railways Pension Scheme -has invested £65m (US$109.3m) in a global long/short equity fund of hedge funds run by Goodhart Partners.

UK - ITV is consulting over changes to its scheme - including capping the growth of pensionable salary - in a bid to reduce its pension scheme deficit of £538m (US$905.4m).

CANADA - The funding levels of corporate pension plans remain higher than expected considering the downturn in the equity markets, rating agency DBRS said.

IRELAND - The average Irish pension managed fund was up 5.7% in July, marking the fifth consecutive month of gains, according to data compiled by Hewitt Associates.

Faltering pension sales squeeze Standard Life's profits by 35%; Axa warns of pension pay cuts

Cuts in future annuity rates due to the adoption of the Solvency II rules for insurers would put further strain on defined contribution scheme members, Aon Consulting says.