Pensions expert Alan Pickering uses trustee conference to attack the government’s policy of promoting personal accounts

A leading business academic has dismissed the Accounting Standards Board’s (ASB’s) recent proposals on calculating pension fund liabilities, and urged trustees to do the same.

The most crucial Budget in years threw up few surprises as Alistair Darling opted to play it safe over a number of potentially contentious reforms.

When you go through the Budget, the long list of losers include both today’s and tomorrow’s pensioners. The abolition of the 10p tax rate will hit some pensioners hard, and will increase national insurance contributions, masking a £2bn tax raid on private pensions savings of middle income earners.”

Pension schemes have been spared the complex test for working out whether small pension pots can be commuted in this month’s budget.

Steve Delo, president of the UK’s Pensions Management Institute, has sounded a warning to trustees who squeeze administration fees.

Pension trustees should place more importance on the administration of their schemes, according to a leading industry figure.

Pension trustees risk failing in their fiduciary duties if they do not tackle the urgency of climate change, says the chief executive of the £3.8bn London Pension Fund Authority (LPFA).

Pension schemes must pursue a “mission on fees” to reduce unnecessary costs and ensure that members receive value for money from investment management.

A significant change will occur in the way pension schemes hedge their liabilities, according to Partha Dasgupta, chief executive of the Pension Protection Fund (PPF).

Paul Myners, chairman of the Personal Accounts Delivery Authority is calling for a consultation to take place on its default investment option.

Director trustees are increasingly at risk of being sued for breach of trust through unmanaged conflicts of interest, says Trustee GAAPS.

The number of people taking the CeFA qualification for financial advisers has surged since its relaunch in 2004, says the ifs School of Finance.

Almost three-quarters of pension scheme trustees have admitted their scheme administration is not environmentally friendly enough.

More incentives should be given for saving in personal accounts, a seminar by the Pensions Policy Institute (PPI) has highlighted.

People drawing on their retirement savings should be offered alternatives to annuities, says the Investment Management Association (IMA).

Watson Wyatt research shows that 70% of independent financial advisers (IFAs) who have some understanding of variable annuities rate them favourably for generating income in retirement compared with conventional annuities, while 60% compare variable annuities favourably with income drawdown.

The major life offices had mixed fortunes in 2007 in the face of increasing longevity and the summer floods, according to their end of year reports.

Annuity specialist Living Time has poached three managers from Prudential to strengthen its team, with the aim of forging a major expansion into the annuity and income drawdown markets.

The article ‘Industry not convinced by AFAM’ (March 2008) paints a rather confusing picture of what is actually being developed.

As if defined benefit schemes didn’t know that they were in a precarious funding position, the Pension Protection Fund’s index of 7,800 DB schemes confirms that conditions have worsened.

The pensions bill is rushing through parliament and should receive royal assent in the summer. So far, the dangers and risks of setting up what is likely to be the largest private pension scheme in the UK – if not the world – have been to do with means-testing, levelling down by employers and mass opting out by employees.

The most prestigious pensions and investment industry awards are almost upon us. Excitement and anticipation are reaching fever pitch among those providers who took the time and effort to enter the awards.

As mortality rates continue to improve, how people fund their retirement years is becoming ever more relevant, and fixed-term annuities could provide a more flexible solution

A survey’s just come out that claims one in seven Yorkshiremen have built winning the lottery into their financial planning. I mean, how good’s that? Even if it was a one-in-seven shot that’d be a pretty dumb thing to do, but winning the lottery is a bit further out than that; basically you’ve got a chance of about one in 14 million of pulling it off. Fabulous stuff really, and a pretty good insight into the mountain that this new Pathfinder Project (that’s trying to establish a national money guidance service) is going to have to climb.

Karen McCusker tells Pensions Management how her fund management style, conviction-led asset allocation and stock selection decisions have consistently produced good returns

Owen Walker speaks to tenacious LAPFF chair Ian Greenwood about his strong-held beliefs that the industry is in need of depoliticisation if it is to serve the true interests of the trustees

Volatility in the equity markets has rendered investors keen to lock in some of the equity profits accrued in recent years, and such defensive investing will see a rise in demand for bonds

China’s influence in keeping down the cost of goods and global inflation highlights the discrepancies in the measuring of inflation worldwide when calculating pension contribution levels

With the provisional RDR paper due in a matter of weeks, pension firms must begin to prepare for all potential outcomes if they are to capitalise on its many possibilities

Personal accounts are aiming to succeed where personal and stakeholder pensions have failed. But how optimistic can we be about their success if people are able to opt out?

With families still not getting incentives to care for widowed loved ones, the less scrupulous could gain

• Stuart Bayliss - Director, Annuity Direct
• Billy Burrows - Annuity director, William Burrows Annuities
• Nick Flynn - Head of retirement services, Origen
• Bernard Footitt - Technical support manager, pensions, Canada Life
• Aston Goodey - Business development director of retirement income, Prudential
• Kim Lerche-Thomsen - CEO, Living Time
• Peter Magliocco - Associate regional director, The Annuity Bureau
• Claire Webster - ET marketing manager, Norwich Union

With the safety net of the DB model looking ever more flimsy in view of the proposed restructure, some insurers think they have just the dose to combat hasty buyouts

Hong Kong is one of several nations with a mandatory pension savings system in place, so what parallels can be drawn when looking at personal accounts in the UK?

As the chancellor sets a flat rate of CGT, some in the industry are predicting the death of investment bonds. But insurers and fee-based IFAs still see a future for them

Though the reality of retirement does not often match the advertised dream, taking control of the future can make a world of difference

While the trend for sourcing the best pension administration provider has been to treat it like buying a new car, the reality is that shopping by price will likely get you a raw deal

After a less than satisfactory low cost pension administration service, a global client is keen to sing the praises of ‘high quality’ HS Admin

Consumers are living longer and moving jobs more frequently, and the market must change fast to meet their individual retirement lifestyles

Bob Bullivant is taking over as chief executive of Annuity Direct from the end of April. His brief will be to expand the firm’s retirement income business.

Rowanmoor Pensions has recruited Robert Graves to the newly created role of product development manager.

Joe McDonnell will join Morgan Stanley Investment Management as head of its Global Portfolio Solutions (GPS) platform in Europe, Middle East and Africa.