Invest in green energy, urges minister, as financial risks of climate change ‘too important to ignore’ June 3, 2019 Pensions minister Guy Opperman has urged fund managers to “do the right thing” and put money into renewables. Read more: Shell switches 700,000 customers to renewables as it rebrands First Utility Speaking in London, he said pension and investment managers must take their environmental responsibilities seriously to help fight global warming. Opperman said: “The financial [...]
Sir Philip Green must stump up extra £50m to save Arcadia from administration May 31, 2019 Sir Philip Green must plough another £50m into the pension scheme of his Arcadia retail empire to prevent it collapsing, it is reported. Read more: Sir Philip Green to close Miss Selfridge's flagship Oxford Street store The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has ordered the Topshop tycoon to add the £50m in addition to £100m his family [...]
Sir Philip Green told to plug Arcadia’s mammoth pensions deficit with his own cash May 24, 2019 Frank Field has weighed in on the row surrounding Sir Philip Green’s proposed restructuring of Arcadia, calling on the Topshop tycoon to guarantee his staff’s pensions with his own personal fortune. Read more: Arcadia to shut two dozen stores in radical rescue plan In a letter, the Work and Pensions Committee chair said Green should [...]
Marks & Spencer pension scheme transfers £1.4bn to two insurers May 23, 2019 Troubled retailer Marks & Spencer (M&S) has transferred £1.4bn in pension scheme liabilities to two insurance companies, bringing the total insurance coverage to two thirds. Phoenix Group has insured £460m of liabilities, covering 5,000 pensioners, while Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC) has insured £900m of the £10bn pension scheme. Read more: M&S braced for fresh decline [...]
Lloyds Bank boss summoned by MPs to explain pension pay perks despite easing shareholders’ concerns May 23, 2019 Lloyds Bank boss Antonio Horta-Osorio has been summoned by MPs to explain the pension contributions paid to the bank’s executives. The bank avoided a shareholder revolt over pension pay last week despite MPs accusing bosses of “boundless greed” on the eve of its annual meeting. Read more: Lloyds Bank avoids pension pay revolt but faces [...]
Puzzled over Australia’s shock election result? Economics can help explain May 22, 2019 The surprise of the week was the re-election of the centre-right Coalition government in the Australian General Election. The Labor opposition had led every major opinion poll for the past two years. But Scott Morrison of the Coalition is still Prime Minister – and it is his Labor opponent who is resigning as leader. Economists, regardless [...]
How to cope with the confusion around social care costs May 22, 2019 Distracted by the ongoing Brexit crisis, the government appears to have shoved the not-so-small issue of social care to one side. With a growing elderly population (by 2046, a quarter of the UK population will be aged 65 or over), and proportionately fewer taxpayers able to prop them up, the rising cost of social care [...]
Lloyds Bank unveils quarterly dividends payments amid pension pay row May 16, 2019 Lloyds Bank has announced plans to pay dividends quarterly from next year ahead of a potential shareholder revolt at today’s AGM. The bank said the move, beginning in the first quarter of 2020, would allow its 2.4 million shareholders to be paid more regularly and efficiently. Read more: Lloyds Banking Group: Q1 results analysis The [...]
Arriva joins Stagecoach in taking government to court over East Midlands franchise award May 12, 2019 The government is facing a double-whammy of legal action over its decision to award the East Midlands franchise to Abellio after Arriva Rail joined Stagecoach in taking it to court. Arriva Rail, which is owned by German rail giant Deutsche Bahn, said it was "seeking to obtain more information relating to how the bids for [...]
Pension superfunds need help to avoid early retirement May 10, 2019 Nobody said it would be easy. For the pension industry’s new generation of consolidation vehicles, getting out of the starting blocks is turning into a protracted affair. The two to have shown their hands so far – the Pension Superfund and Clara-Pensions – have impressive boards, promises of funding and bulging deal pipelines, yet months [...]