Aviva has admitted its active member discount (AMD) of workplace pension products could land deferred members with a 1.5% annual management charge on leaving their employer.

The government’s decision to extend CPI indexation to private sector pension schemes has divided the industry – and the arguments continue to rumble on.

Param Basi, technical pensions director at AWD Chase de Vere, can see no justification for the move and claims it will only harm pensions’ already tarnished name further.

“It is grossly unfair to those who have contributed in good faith toward their retirement to now change the measure by which their income in retirement will increase,” said Basi.

“The argument that CPI is a more appropriate measure does not stand up when you consider that pensioner inflation is recognised as being higher than RPI anyway.

Steve Webb is in a fidgety, excitable mood. The new pensions minister has clearly been relishing the opportunity to get his hands on the UK’s beleaguered pensions systems, but that’s not to say he doesn’t recognise the scale of the challenge before him.

Over the past two months, the phrase ‘libertarian paternalism’ has crept into the national press. This Orwellian-sounding term dominates the theory of Nudge economics – the idea that markets are fallible because they are run by human beings, and can be influenced or nudged in a certain direction using behavioural triggers.

Government bonds are among the most basic and liquid instruments available for investors to trade. However, all too often, fund managers are content to use an outdated system of portfolio management that reduces the potential for them to generate alpha for their clients.

It’s that time again. The awards season is almost upon us.

And for Pensions Management, that means the Technology, Administration and Service Awards has opened to entries for 2010.

The awards recognise those providers who have delivered excellent service to their financial adviser clients.