How to invest your bonus: If you’re not off to the McLaren dealership, topping up a pension makes good sense January 18, 2017 Industry experts have warned that bonus season in the Square Mile might not be so bumper this year. In December, research by Emolument.com indicated that just 40 per cent of bankers in mergers and acquisitions found their sweetener satisfactory. And this week, the market leader of PwC’s global financial services HR consulting practice has warned that [...]
Tata Steel pension scheme edges towards safety January 13, 2017 Tata Steel is one step closer to saving its £15bn retirement scheme from falling into the government's pension lifeboat. A statement from the British Steel Pension Scheme trustees revealed Tata Steel had initiated talks with both scheme trustees and "relevant regulatory bodies". Read more: German steel giant in talks with Tata hit by "massive" cyber attack Tata Steel, [...]
UK’s pension lifeboat gets lower in the water as deficits soar in December January 10, 2017 Pension shortfalls grew at a rate of nearly £1bn a day during December, figures released by the UK's pension lifeboat have revealed. The Pension Protection Fund (PPF), into which defined benefit pension schemes fall upon corporate insolvency, calculated an aggregate deficit for the 5,794 schemes covered of £224bn at the end of December. The shortfall grew [...]
Turkey business Bernard Matthews faces pension probe January 9, 2017 The pensions lifeboat is looking into the retirement plans of a turkey company that went into administration last year. Bernard Matthews was acquired from private equity firm Rutland Partners by 2 Sisters in September. 2 Sisters, whose chief executive Ranjit Boparan is known as the “chicken king”, agreed the deal under a pre-pack administration, meaning it bought [...]
Royal Mail pensions closure: Unions warn on strikes if they disagree with plans January 5, 2017 Royal Mail today revealed plans to scrap its mammoth pension scheme that serves 90,000 postal workers. The former state-owned firm said the current final salary surplus would run out in 2018 and unless changes were implemented, the bill for servicing the scheme could run to over £1bn a year – a level it said “would [...]
Pensions Insurance Corporation picks up GKN scheme in £190m deal as engineer offloads liabilities January 5, 2017 Engineering giant GKN has shaken up its pension scheme and offloaded pension liabilities to a specialist insurer in a deal worth £190m. Pension aggregator Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC) will take on 20 per cent of the liabilities of the scheme in a pension buyout of specific members. Read more: UK firms to ditch £30bn of pension liabilities in [...]
£30bn in the pipeline: This is the year UK firms will cut pension schemes loose January 4, 2017 Britain's companies will shift sky-rocketing pension liabilities from their balance sheets this year, experts have predicted. With defined benefit pension schemes at record year-end levels, 2017 will be year to de-risk and UK plc is keen to take advantage of the improved affordability of shifting scheme risk to the insurance, according to Willis Towers Watson (WTW). Read more: As pension [...]
Resolutions for your money: Experts give their personal finance tips for 2017 January 4, 2017 After the gift giving, sales shopping and other excesses of the festive season, many of us aspire to start the New Year with tighter belts. According to research by Masthaven, 78 per cent of Brits intend to save over the next 12 months, with 34 per cent of them planning to squirrel away more than they [...]
Pension deficits hit a record year-end high as experts warn on implications January 3, 2017 Britain's pension gap almost doubled during 2016 to the highest ever year-end level, according to data released today. The aggregate deficit of defined benefit pension schemes leapt to £434bn, according to JLT Employee Benefits, up from £233bn, 12 months before. Although deficits have pared back from all-time highs of over £500bn in August, experts predicted bumper pension [...]
Working for longer isn’t an option for those who are forced into early retirement, survey finds January 2, 2017 Many of the Britain's workers are being forced into early retirement due to illness or redundancy according to new figures released today. More than four in 10 of retired people have been forced to quit full-time positions due to circumstances outside of their control, a survey by Just Retirement has revealed. The news is a concern [...]