New rules force pension funds to consider environmental and social factors October 1, 2019 Pension funds are now required to consider environmental and social factors when making investment decisions, under rules introduced today as part of the government’s bid to tackle climate change. New rules which have come into force this morning mean all defined-contribution schemes with more than 100 members will have to set out how they are [...]
Prudential hit with £23.8m fine for annuity mis-selling September 30, 2019 Prudential has been fined £23.8m for failures related to non-advised sales of annuities, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said today. The company has also offered customers approximately £110m in compensation for its breaches. The City watchdog said Prudential’s non-advised annuity business focused on selling annuities directly to existing Prudential pensions holders. Read more: City watchdog [...]
Thomas Cook pension funds in talks over buyout deal September 27, 2019 Thomas Cook’s pension funds are in talks with insurers to mitigate cuts to payments for the employees of the collapsed travel firm. Chair of trustees Steve Southern has launched discussions with several parties about a buyout deal to prevent pension scheme members losing out on payments, Sky News reported. Read more: 40 per cent of [...]
Align directors’ pensions with workforce or risk shareholder dissent, companies told September 27, 2019 Companies that do not produce credible plans to pay executive directors the same pension contributions as their workforce by the end of 2022 risk further shareholder dissent over the issue, a new report by the Investment Association (IA) has warned. The IA said it would begin giving firms that breach its guidelines on directors’ pensions [...]
Rothesay Life and Telent agree UK’s biggest ever pension transfer deal September 26, 2019 Insurer Rothesay Life and telecoms firm Telent have agreed a £4.7bn pension transfer deal – the largest ever made in the UK – covering the pensions of 39,000 people. Companies are increasingly keen to offload pension liabilities to insurers, in deals known as buy-ins and buy-outs. The mammoth Rothesay deal smashed the record set in [...]
Adventure capital: Young firms offer strong returns, so why aren’t pensions invested? September 25, 2019 Are you taking on enough risk? Because a common concern among money experts is that pension savers, particularly those who won’t reach retirement age for decades, are not. If you have opted for your pension provider’s default fund, it’s highly likely that you will be invested in companies that are well-established, but only give you [...]
Tate & Lyle agrees £930m ‘de-risking’ pension deal with Legal & General September 19, 2019 Food and drink ingredient supplier Tate & Lyle has agreed a £930m annuity insurance “buy-in” with Legal and General. Tate & Lyle has transferred its pension scheme so it is underwritten by the financial services giant, which it said would provide “certainty and security” for its affected members. Read more: Tate & Lyle reports flat [...]
Local Government Pension Scheme under pressure to drop active fund managers September 14, 2019 The Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) has said it is under pressure from government officials to switch to passive management after the suspension of the Woodford Equity Income fund in June. LGPS, which is the largest public-sector pension scheme in the UK with almost 6m members, has 60 per cent of its holdings in active [...]
Debate: Should the tapered annual allowance for tax on pensions be abolished? September 13, 2019 Should the tapered annual allowance for tax on pensions be abolished? Yes – Steve Webb is director of policy at Royal London. To understand why this issues matters, just look at doctors. Most senior doctors are well-paid and are in a good pension scheme. But when doctors who work harder can end up out-of-pocket, something [...]
Santander accused of circumventing professional PPI claims firms September 11, 2019 Professional claims managers have accused Santander of trying to minimise its PPI payments after the bank started going above their heads, dealing directly with customers. The bank confirmed it was talking to customers, skipping the claims management companies (CMCs) to save time on the process. Read more: Lloyds suspends share buyback as PPI costs rise [...]