A member who suffered a £49,000-a-year loss has taken his battle to the ombudsman, claiming scheme rules were broken to allow PPF entry

The European Commission has given employers the go-ahead to automatically enrol workers into group personal pensions (GPPs) when personal accounts are introduced in 2012.

The buyout industry has received a shot in the arm, with the first two FTSE 100 companies offloading risks from their defined benefit (DB) schemes.

Because this is a new area, we don’t know how it could potentially develop. The problem has always been that we’ve seen a freight train coming and we know that it could be dealt with by regulation. The market says ‘please don’t give lots of power to the regulator’, the freight train hits, and everyone loses.” Mike O’Brien - Minister for pensions reform

Aegon has beaten its peers to become the first UK provider to launch a third way annuity.

Life offices have come under fire as industry experts branded them a major barrier in the wrap revolution.

Two large wrap providers have revealed to PM their very different plans for the future, as the market steadily becomes more competitive.

Wrap is at an embryonic stage and IFAs must beware of rushing to sign up when it is still not clear what benefits it will bring clients, a prominent financial adviser has warned.

Much has been said of late about the benefits of investment diversification. Although diversification reduces the risk of a portfolio, it does not necessarily reduce the returns. As a result, diversification is referred to as the only free lunch in finance.

New Star Asset Management has seen its assets under management (AUM) fall by 6.1% to £21.7bn in the year to date, as investors pull £700m out of a number of its poorly performing funds.

Deutsche Bank’s exchange traded fund (ETF) offshoot, DB X-trackers (DBX), has launched the world’s first short bond and emerging market bond ETFs.

One of Asia’s fastest growing and most successful asset management companies has arrived in London, as it begins its assault on Europe.

YouGov has been enlisted by Numis Corporation and Four Capital to help set up what they claim is the first research-driven hedge fund.

UK pension funds have gradually changed their asset allocation since the turn of the millennium; equities have been reduced from an average of 76% to 63%, bonds increased from 16% to 24%, and other investments from 8% to 13%.

The debate over what constitutes a self-invested personal pension (Sipp) and its fees has reignited, as the latest research reveals the market is still booming.

Killik & Co has led an assault on the group self-invested personal pension (Sipp) market by launching its first for specialist insurance firm Novae Group, as well as setting up a ‘green group Sipp’ for the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP).

Charities have been urged to address their pension schemes without delay, as regulations continue to change and the pressure increases on them to divert funds away from core projects to plug deficits.

The National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) is preparing to involve itself in a legal challenge against HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) over a wrangle on VAT.

If the government fails to seek advice from the private sector about the marketing and education around personal accounts, it risks a misrepresentation scandal, or at best, the message being completely ignored, leading communication firms have warned.

The majority of UK employers now operate a defined contribution (DC) pension scheme, according to Capita Hartshead.

The introduction of cost-sharing will be one of the greatest challenges facing the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS), a panel of local authority experts has claimed.

Trustees of final salary schemes face an unstoppable momentum towards fiduciary management, according to Watson Wyatt.

The Pension Protection Fund’s 7800 index has revealed the aggregated funding position of its pool of defined benefit (DB) schemes at the end of April was a surplus of £30.3bn.

In Robert Peston’s Who Runs Britain?, the BBC News business editor dissects the UK’s economic landscape over the past couple of decades, and concludes a super-rich oligarchy now calls the shots on every aspect of our lives.

Reading the piece on the new IFS qualification (see PM March & April 2008), I nearly had a heart attack when Robert Reid of the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII)/Personal Finance Society said that he thought the School of Finance was trying to “second guess” the outcome of the retail distribution review (RDR).

The definition of ‘qualifying earnings’ for personal accounts and its conflict with typical pensionable earnings for existing schemes, is a fundamental issue in the development of personal accounts. Employers with existing schemes will wish to ensure their scheme is qualifying, so that they are exempt from enrolling employees into personal accounts.

The credit crunch means it is ever more difficult for entrepreneurs and new businesses to extract funding from banks, but taking certain steps can help increase your chances

Well here’s a funny one. I was reading the paper the other day and

For the best part of his 20-year career Andy Cawker has managed long-only UK equity funds, but has now turned his attentions to market-neutral. Owen Walker gets an insight into the secrets behind his success

As manager of the national roller hockey team and having recorded with the likes of Jimi Hendrix and the Rolling Stones, Ron Barker is no ordinary managing director, as Owen Walker discovers

With diversified multi-asset strategies gathering pace, naysayers are having to bite their tongue as the proof that such portfolios are not a fad is in the pudding

As the pensions bill is greeted by the House of Lords this month, Nigel Waterson considers the potential obstacles that may stand in the way of the success of personal accounts

New developments and continued interest in the Sipp story mean this product shows no sign of stopping on the express route to success

How advisers research the quality of Sipps is a complicated task, but there’s a lot more to consider than just cost and product features

The Sipps market has evolved at a phenomenal pace since A-day, but the second generation must take care not to expand in a way that damages the traditional product

Clients and providers alike must move with the times and adapt their plans and products to gain most benefit

• Diane Hassall-Mead - Senior communications consultant, Watson Wyatt
• Alan Millward - Head of workplace distribution, Axa
• Jennifer Powell - Principal, Towers Perrin
• Trevor Rutter - Senior associate, Mercer
• Kevin Shilling - Managing director, Shilling Communication
• Jonathan Watts-Lay - Director, JPMorgan Invest

As the arrival date for personal accounts nears and the structure is slowly coming together, the UK pensions industry must prepare to make any necessary adjustments

Large-scale, complex IT systems and other processes are drawing the life and pensions industry towards outsourcing at a lower cost

While the job description might not have mentioned it, the role of a finance director is about as varied and vital to a business as they come, writes James McColl

Ethical investing principles have existed for some 25 years, evolving from a minority consideration to an increasingly popular culture with many different guises

FairPensions has selected Catherine Howarth, an experienced pension fund trustee and campaigner on boosting London wages, as its chief executive.

Two prominent consultants from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) have been enlisted by the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) to improve its investment strategy.

Nick Kelly has quit Thinc Group as group operations director and upgraded to Sesame, the largest IFA in the UK.