Opinion

UK - The latest National Association of Pension Funds gathering in Edinburgh found three or four hundred industry veterans in astonishingly good spirits, considering their frankly dire predicament.

This is the first time in I don't know how many years that I have not gone up to Edinburgh for the NAPF conference. And I have to say I am going to miss it.

Proposed changes to pension accounting standards have, once again, raised fears across the industry.

We see it all the time. One day no-one has heard of something, the next you can't move for people telling you it is the next big thing.

I'm writing this month's piece on the eve of the Global Pensions Awards 2010. Tomorrow night's events are the culmination of months of work, not only from the judges and pension funds who took the time to nominate their providers, but from the asset managers...

Pre-election fever is taking hold. Last Friday, the City spent much of the day consumed by rumours that the government was about to announce the date of the election, given the latest political news and economic numbers.

Industry responses to the Treasury's consultation on proposals to restrict higher-rate tax relief for those earning more than £130,000 - which closed yesterday - have been vehemently against the move.

The spring thaw is imminent, and after the freezing winter shocks of debt, debt and a little more debt, there are signs that investor risk appetite is warming up again. A frequently heard phrase is "You can't sit in cash forever, you have to do something."...

Last week, I bemoaned that, while successive governments had regulated defined benefit schemes out of existence, there had never been an investigation into how all this regulation came about and how such mistakes could be avoided in the future.

The Treasury's announcement that it borrowed a further £4.3bn last month was unexpected to say the least.