Shadow pensions minister Nigel Waterson has promised an immediate review of the Personal Accounts Delivery Authority (PADA), should his party win this year’s general election.

The National Pensioners Convention has criticised the approach of both the government and opposition to rethinking the default retirement age.

John Allen Paulos, professor of mathematics at Philedelphia’s Temple University, once compared the internet to the world’s largest library, but one where all the books are on the floor.

Lord Myners has warned trustees they must act now if they are to prevent the UK’s largest banks doling out excessive bonus packages this year.

The local government pension scheme may face a deficit of £60bn, if figures from the Liberal Democrats are to be believed.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) last month published the final set of regulations putting in place the pensions policy reforms ahead of implementation in 2012.

Activist investors found an unlikely poster boy last month as Billy Bragg announced he was refusing to pay his taxes until chancellor Alistair Darling reined in bonus payments at state-backed lender Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS).

The largest UK coalition of institutional and private shareholders has filed a resolution calling on Royal Dutch Shell to provide transparency on risks associated with Canadian oil sands projects.

Small businesses have branded 2012 pension reforms “unfair”, according to research published with the government’s final consultation response on the subject.

Regulatory pressures are forcing more independent financial advisers (IFAs) to abandon investment advice in favour of engaging a discretionary fund manager (DFM), according to a major report by highnetworth-online.com.

Steve Bee’s new role at Paradigm Partners will involve encouraging employers and advisers to create defined contribution schemes that are superior to the National Employment Savings Trust (Nest) scheme.

Often the most exciting and promising elements of a festival or conference take place in the fringes. Take jokes (Edinburgh), couture (fashion week), or policies (annual party conferences); the best ones are frequently dreamed up and demonstr-ated in obscure backrooms while the goings-on in the highly polished main conference hall appear unsurprising, unambitious and, frankly, a bit of a let-down. Such was the case at the Copenhagen Summit, where ministers and officials met to discuss ways to cut carbon emission and renew the Kyoto Protocol, which runs out in 2012.

Analysts have claimed Aberdeen Asset Management’s £84.7m acquisition of the Royal Bank of Scotland’s (RBS) fund arm is nothing more than opportunism.

Credit Suisse’s former UK fund unit head has revealed he set up a specialist passive investment boutique because mutual funds do not provide a good deal for investors.

Collateral is set to be a major issue for schemes hedging their liabilities over the coming year, advisers and fund managers have warned.

While virtually all risk assets delivered strong returns in 2009, the recent performance of corporate credit is without any modern precedent. Against a backdrop of an improving global economy, corporate deleveraging and strong investor flows, US dollar-denominated investment grade corporates outperformed similar maturity Treasury bonds by an astonishing 20% over the second and third quarters. At 265 basis points (bps) at the end of October, BBB spreads narrowed by about two-thirds from their peaks.

Trustees are concerned workplace pension uptake will be reduced by government plans to halve the time limits for schemes to communicate basic information to staff.

The BBC has cut incentives for early retirement by making many early-leaver payments cost-neutral for its final salary fund.

A dispute over the valuation of a FTSE 250 company’s defined benefit scheme has led to a Mexican standoff with the firm and its actuary suing each other.

IBM has been accused of forcing through changes to its £6.6bn defined benefit scheme for UK employees, without trustee approval.

Rockingham Retirement is trialling a new decumulation product for its self-invested personal pension (Sipp).

The number of self-invested personal pension (Sipp) providers is expected to peak this year, followed by a period of market consolidation, according to the latest Defaqto industry report.

The annuity market is set to “explode” with new products and providers, according to this month’s survey.

Equitable Life will reverse last year’s cut in its policy values and award with-profits holders a 3.5% interim bonus.

Group personal pensions and group stakeholder pensions cannot be sold by advisers on a commission basis from 2012 under new guidelines.

The leading UK positions in the newly created Towers Watson consultancy have largely gone to ex-Watson Wyatt employees.

This handy guide for those running the retirement gauntlet covers the full gamut of pension products, as well as discussing investment approaches. It even gets down to the nitty-gritty, such as how to make a complaint over poor advice.

Continuing with the theme of the guides from our sister publications, this second edition of The Economist’s Guide to Investment Strategy is again written by Peter Stanyer. His impressive CV of roles at major UK and US wealth and fund managers – as well sitting on the investment committees at two large pension funds and being the former investment director of the Railway Pension Fund – make him an authoritative source.

I’ve just been watching a programme on the telly called 60 Minute Makeover or something like that (I was actually making a coffee and sandwich when it started, so I’m not 100% on the title). Anyway, the gist of the show is that some people who are fed up with the state of their houses get in this team of decorating experts and they give a number of rooms a complete makeover in 60 minutes.

Choosing an annuity is much like choosing a bottle of wine to go with a meal, particularly if you can’t tell your cabernet from your merlot. The list of names on the list given to you means nothing, and even when you do recognise a name you are often left clutching at a vague memory of having heard it somewhere in a now forgotten context. Even the more detailed descriptions can be nothing but gibberish to those unfamiliar with the appropriate jargon, and so you are left with little to go on but the price.

The ongoing financial upheaval has left many of those near retirement cornered, but asset-backed annuities could offer the most sensible option

The market for alternatives to conventional annuities is blossoming, but the long-established investment-linked variety could prove just as attractive as newer models

IHT mitigation and control over choice of beneficiaries make bypass trusts an attractive concept, yet few advisers seem willing to use them

Independent trustee firm Bestrustees has appointed two new directors, expanding the company’s board from six to eight members.

Sun Life Financial of Canada has confirmed its UK leadership team after its acquisition of annuity provider Lincoln.

Wrap platform provider Nucleus Financial Group has poached Aileen Mathieson from Standard Life Savings to take over as chief financial officer.