Pension industry asks for help with £90bn deficit hit from QE
TOP DOGS in the pension industry yesterday called for government help in dealing with the £90bn hole in pension schemes driven by quantitative easing (QE).
Talking to MPs on the Treasury Select Committee, representatives from pension groups including the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) said that Bank of England gilt purchases had widened funds’ deficits, by expanding their liabilities faster than their assets.
Though saying the Bank was right to take steps it deemed necessary to manage inflation and steady the economy, NAPF chair Mark Hyde-Harrison asked for more flexibility from The Pensions Regulator in filling in the deficits that Bank policy has added to.
He said giving funds only 10 years in such a hard climate pulled money out of investment, acting as a drag on the economic recovery.