September 2024
23Sep

UK pension fund Nest agrees tie-up to invest up to £1bn in build-to-rent

The UK’s state-backed pension scheme has agreed a tie-up with insurer Legal & General and Dutch pension fund manager PGGM to invest up to £1bn in build-to-rent properties, in a deal hailed by the UK government as an example of how the country’s retirement savings can be directed towards its homebuilding effort. The groups are today announcing a partnership with an initial £350mn commitment of combined investment, expected to grow to £1bn in the coming years, to build and manage...

September 23, 2024
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19Sep

UK. NHS retirees with six-figure pensions double in a year

The number of retired NHS workers receiving pensions paying £100,000 has more than doubled in a year. Nearly 2,000 former consultants and senior staff now have pensions paying six-figures – up from 890 last year and 698 in 2022. Britain’s public sector pension debt has swollen to nearly £5 trillion, which is the equivalent of £173,000 per household. The NHS retirement plan, which is the nation’s largest public sector pension scheme, paid £12bn to its retirees in the 2023-2024 tax year, official documents show. Most...

September 19, 2024
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13Sep

Pension Risk Transfer Monitor

By Legal & General  In this latest edition of our Pension Risk Transfer (PRT) Monitor, we off¬er a side-by-side analysis of the two largest PRT markets globally – the US and UK. We expect PRT volumes to remain elevated across the next decade. Based on current levels, more than £250 billion of combined UK and US volumes are likely to be secured by insurers in the next 3 years alone. In this bulletin we reflect on the first half of...

September 13, 2024
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13Sep

UK. Pensions and private capital leaders propose solutions to boost private markets investment

The government should use the upcoming value for money framework to help pension schemes shift their focus from short-term considerations to long-term returns in defined contribution (DC) pensions, leaders from the pensions and private capital industry have said. The British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (BVCA)-led group advocated for this approach as data had demonstrated that private capital funds generate the highest average returns compared to alternative UK assets. In particular, BVCA analysis revealed that, since 2001, investors in private...

September 13, 2024
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12Sep

UK retirement security reaches record high in GRI

Retirement security in the UK has improved over the past year and reached a record-high position of 14th place on the Natixis Investment Managers (IM) Global Retirement Index (GRI), the firm has revealed. The UK rose two places in the index over the past year, outperforming France, Finland, Sweden, and the United States, with the improvement driven by increases in health spending per capita. Overall, the UK scored 74 per cent on its retirement security, up from 67 per cent and...

September 12, 2024
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11Sep

UK. State pension set to rise by £460 next year

The new full state pension is expected to rise by £460 a year from April, latest wages data suggests. Under the arrangement called the “triple lock”, the state pension goes up each year by either 2.5%, inflation, or average earnings growth – whichever is the highest figure. Earnings figures for the three months to July are used for the yearly increase, and these showed total pay rose at an annual rate of 4%, much higher than inflation. The news comes as the government...

September 11, 2024
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09Sep

Buoyant markets pump up largest retirement plan assets to $22.6 trillion in 2023

Assets of the world’s top 300 retirement plans increased by 10% in 2023 to a total $22.64 trillion, staging a recovery from their 12.9% decline in 2022, according to the according to the latest annual survey by Pensions & Investments and Willis Towers Watson PLC's Thinking Ahead Institute. The plans benefited from the recovery of markets, which have picked up momentum and generally did better in 2023, said Jessica Gao, London-based director at the Thinking Ahead Institute. “But we still have interest-rate pressure...

September 9, 2024
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09Sep

UK. FCA bans 4 over ‘reckless’ pension transfer advice

The Financial Conduct Authority has banned two financial advisers and two partners from St Martin’s Partners LLP from working in financial services and has collectively fined them £590,544, for "reckless" pension transfer advice. The regulator said Adrian Douglas, Liam Martin, Frank Oxberry and Alec Cuthbert were responsible for a pension transfer advice model that put people’s guaranteed retirement benefits at risk. Between October 2015 and July 2016, the FCA claims St Martin’s Partners’ advice model put 547 customers at “significant risk” of transferring...

September 9, 2024
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06Sep

Pensions Dashboards Programme. Progress update report

By Pensions Dashboards Programme This is the 9th Pensions Dashboards Programme (PDP) progress update report, covering our work to deliver the technical solution and facilitate connection to the dashboards ecosystem. It looks back at our achievements since October 2023, as well as looking ahead to our focus areas for the next 6 months. After a legal connection deadline of 31 October 2026 was set last year, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has now published a revised staged timetable for...

September 6, 2024
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06Sep

UK and US pension risk transfer market to exceed £250bn in next three years

Legal & General has today released the latest edition of its Pension Risk Transfer (PRT) Monitor, which analyses industry trends and market outlooks in the UK and US. Findings from the report show: The UK PRT market has completed an estimated £20bn of buy-ins and buyouts in the year to date The US market experienced a record breaking first half, estimated at $26bn Both markets are on track for one of their largest years ever, with a significant increase in the number...

September 6, 2024
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