Hargreaves Lansdown announces the launch of an integrated corporate wrap in April 2010, incorporating workplace savings, ISAs and group Sipps

The Labour party has vowed to “find a way” to provide free care for the elderly through legislation announced in the Queen’s speech in November.

New legislation will be put forward to provide care for the estimated 280,000 elderly and disabled people with the most serious needs.

Many of the most vocal within the pensions industry are calling for the reinstatement of tax relief for higher earners, but some fear tax hikes in this month’s pre-Budget report (PBR).

Tom McPhail used his keynote speech at this year’s Pensions Management Retirement Summit to highlight the failure of providers to promote the open market option (OMO).

McPhail, chairman of the Pensions Income Choice Association (PICA), called for universal acceptance of the OMO from all sectors of the pensions industry, to help retirees capitalise on the range of options available.

The current cost of asset management is unsustainable, according to panelists at PM’s first Retirement Summit.

Major pension providers and financial advisers have distanced themselves from taking responsibility for the mass-market provision of advice.

Owen Walker looks back on a frantic PADA admin procurement process and sees it into the final furlong

Logica’s withdrawal from the Personal Accounts Delivery Authority’s (PADA) administration procurement process has raised questions over whether there is sufficient competition for the role.

An asset-liability modeller for defined benefit (DB) schemes, which aims to offer an alternative to the “dark arts of actuaries”, has been launched.

A busy month for the Pensions Protection Fund (PPF) saw the lifeboat win a significant High Court case, publish proposals for a change to levy calculations and reveal its deficit had doubled in a year.

When a new EU directive for alternative asset managers was proposed this summer, it made London’s blood boil. Mayor Boris Johnson went over to Brussels in an attempt to quell the fear instilled in the City, which sees its future in danger with the strict regulations that are being proposed.

Target date funds, long considered the optimal design for default investment strategies in US defined contribution (DC) schemes, have failed to perform, particularly during the current recessionary
markets.

Technology innovator and founding president of the Institute of Financial Planning (IFP) Paul Etheridge has scooped the second New Breed Adviser (NBA) lifetime achievement award.

UK pension schemes have allocated more than £650m to commercial property in the last three months, highlighting the asset class’s growth in popularity.

While many equity investors were overweight the healthcare sector at the start of 2009, the sector has significantly underperformed the market this year, not least because of the aggressive sector rotation out of defensives that began in March. However, the major driver for underperformance has been the uncertainty created by President Obama’s US healthcare reform plans. The sector is now at a 20% discount to the market, based on forward price/earnings ratios, and is currently the cheapest it has been for at least 30 years.

This month’s small self-administered schemes (SSASs) survey has found the product is suffering from misinformation and a lack of awareness.

The run-up to the change of the pension access age could ignite a mis-selling timebomb, Carl Melvin, of Affluent Financial Planning, has warned.

Several pensions administrators have refused to take Freedom Sipp off the hands of its liquidator, which is desperate to offload the failed business.

Talbot & Muir has hit back at accusations that unauthorised payments from self-invested personal pensions (Sipps) are unlawful.

The retail distribution review (RDR) will go ahead under a Conservative government, but concerns still remain about the party’s proposals, according to a survey of advisers.

Pensions minister Angela Eagle has dismissed Conservative proposals to support defined benefit (DB) schemes and bring forward auto-enrolment.

I write, having read the article ‘Taking back control’, included as part of the income drawdown survey in your October issue. In this article, it is claimed that the concept of scheme pension was first introduced to the member-directed pension scheme market in 2008.

I have just read your brave editor’s letter in Pensions Management (November 2009).

Readers of October’s issue will be aware of just how large and wide-ranging the defined benefit derisking landscape has become. Buy-in deals have taken the spotlight this year, while schemes heart set on full buyout have a number of routes to take.

With contributions from a number of key industry players – from the perennially vocal Edmund Truell to the recently reticent Mark Wood – this collection of essays offers a number of insights into the market, from the perspective of providers, employees and trustees.

For anyone who has had their head in the sand, avoiding the doom and gloom headlines of what has now dubbed ‘the pensions crisis’, this book will act as a step-by-step guide to avoiding the pitfalls.

Written in a thankfully jargon-free and accessible way, this is very much aimed at the layman who may have been scared off by the glut of acronyms our industry has been so active in producing.

Slowly but surely, pension policy seems to be moving in one direction: compulsion. Apparently exhausted with the long-term nature of encouraging people to take responsibility for retirement, the last few years have seen a shift of which personal accounts and auto-enrolment are the most high profile elements.

The RU64 rule was designed to ensure that advisers clearly document any decision to recommend a non-stakeholder plan, but this should not dissuade them from offering alternatives

It’s a misty Monday morning as I write my column this month. I just travelled up to London on the train and read the morning papers on my iPhone on the way (I know, how cool is that?). When I got into my office, there was a note on my desk waiting for me that said ‘Urgent! Don’t forget to do your PM column; it’s overdue (again!) and they’re going mental!’. So I’m writing it now with as much asap as possible.

Fortunately, I’ve got something to write about (that always helps) because I read so many interesting things in the papers this morning. To start with, I was fascinated to read in The Times about their spelling bee competition. I must admit that my first thought was along the lines of ‘How difficult can that be?’ and, ‘What will they do in the event of a draw?’ and stuff like that. I mean, bee’s not such a difficult word to spell, is it? But as it turns out, the term ‘spelling bee’ is kind of a well-known way of describing a spelling competition. I didn’t know that.

Simon Foster is keen to impart a strong savings message to the working population, and in his new role at Zurich he is building a solid platform from which to do this, he tells Nick Reeve

Many are asking whether the ETF market is becoming saturated, but evidence suggests it has not yet matured, and even hints that the industry may be able to self-regulate when it does

The short-termist approach adopted by many asset managers is putting investments at risk, but pension funds could encourage them to address long-term issues

Changes to employer debt legislation may aim to achieve a balance between scheme protection and corporate activity, but more regulation is never welcome

Nick Reeve speaks to GLG fund manager Stephen Harker about the merits of the Japanese markets, turning a profit from technology, and the prospects for the UK economy

Despite the lack of coverage afforded to SSASs, the product is far from a dying breed and can offer benefits to many schemes

The roles of the pensioneer trustee and adminstrator have increasingly merged since A-day to maintain scheme control, but for many it has become an onerous task

The search for a utilitarian default fund for DC members is underway and attention is turning to US-style target date funds, but they too are not without their flaws

Nick Bamford, chief executive of Informed Choice and John Moret, sales and marketing director at Suffolk Life, debate the Sipp market and how effectively it has been regulated

The Technology, Administration & Service Awards and the New Breed Adviser Awards have long sought to highlight and applaud the successes and innovations achieved in these industries. Here, Owen Walker showcases the fine work of the winners

The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has appointed Kerrie Kelly as director-general, to succeed Stephen Haddrill.

The Association of Pension Lawyers (APL) has elected Pauline Sibbit as chair for a two-year period.

The Pension Protection Fund (PPF) has appointed its second non-executive director in the space of a month.