News

Including: US - Tremblant Capital hires new head of risk management; US - FRSGlobal opens New York office; US - BNY Mellon appoints new head of global product development; UK - Caution over FTSE 350 discount liabilities

AUSTRALIA - Watson Wyatt has appointed Hugh Dougherty as head of manager research and Michael Blayney as head of the Portfolio Construction Group (PCG) in Australia.

UK - The National Association of Pensions Funds (NAPF) has found many employers are unprepared for the introduction of Personal Accounts in 2012.

US - The Department of Labor, Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Congress and employers will need to work together to enable the much-needed implementation of phased retirement programmes, a senior consultant has claimed.

SCHEMES threatened with insurance style funding requirements under Solvency II proposals have been given a reprieve, Watson Wyatt says.

US - Reducing risk has overtaken increasing returns on assets as the greatest concern for pension scheme executives, a study by Towers Perrin has found.

EUROPE - A consultation paper published last week by the European Commission could represent a reprieve for UK companies sponsoring defined benefit (DB) schemes, to which insurance-style funding requirements might be applied, said Watson Wyatt.

The Pensions Management Institute autumn conference - Pensions, when the going gets tough - will take place on September 23.

The Pension Protection Fund has appointed Lehman Brothers International, BlackRock Investment Management and Goldman Sachs International to provide it with transition management services.

Legal & General is set to run another pilot study into the pricing structure of the individual annuity market.