International

The state pension age is set to increase to 68 by 2050 with anyone aged less than 47 facing a longer working life, the work and pensions secretary, John Hutton, said today. Only those born before 1959 will be unaffected by plans to phase in a higher retirement age over three decades, outlined in the government’s white paper on pension reforms.  Starting in 2024, the age at which the state pension is paid will be increased in line with life expectancy, so that individuals continue to receive the state pension for the same proportion of their life.  The state retirement age, which is set to be 65 for men and women by 2020, will rise to 66 between 2024 and 2026, to 67 between 2034 and 2036 and to 68 between 2044 and 2046. 

The pensions white paper has been broadly welcomed by business groups and trade bodies, but pensioner organisations said it failed to do enough for today’s retirees. The Association of British Insurers said the reforms pointed policy "firmly in the right direction". Stephen Haddrill, its director-general, said the proposals would create a solid platform for a new savings culture in Britain. "Now the hard work really begins, for the pensions and insurance industry as much as for the government," he said. 
Guardian Unlimited | Retirement age will rise to 68
White Paper

The UK government today unveiled its long-awaited response to the Pensions Commission in a White Paper.  Among the key elements were the launch of a new national pension savings scheme based on personal accounts and the extension of the Financial Assistance Scheme, the BBC said.  The new accounts, from 2012, would see employers contribute 3% of salaries, employees 4% and the government 1%. The employer contribution would be phased in over three years. Employees will be automatically enrolled but may opt out.

The UK’s pension industry appears split over the government’s proposed national pensions savings schemes.  Investment providers have welcomed the idea but consulting firms have warned of higher costs and unintended consequences.  The government White Paper, following up on the Pensions Commission proposals, said it would introduce a new low cost savings scheme in which employees will be automatically enrolled.  It said: “This will create a new savings culture in Britain; up to 10m people will be saving in these personal accounts and most of the money paid in will be new pension saving. By retirement, their pension funds could be worth up to around 25% more because of lower charges.”
Investment & Pensions Europe – IPE.com

It is already the world’s biggest pension fund with more than $230bn in assets. By the end of the decade it confidently expects to be $500bn in size, dwarfing any other investment fund on earth. And this huge stash of cash is run from a fourth-floor office in a nondescript building down an Oslo side street. What is more, its manager, Knut Kjaer, a former academic, has quietly outperformed most professional fund managers on Wall Street and in the City who earn 10, or even 20 times, his £200,000-a-year salary. Mr Kjaer is a Norwegian civil servant. His job is to manage the country’s petroleum revenues and, as Norway is the world’s third largest oil exporter, the money is gushing in.
Guardian Unlimited Business | | Behind the world’s biggest pension fund

Die Pensionskasse der Nachfolgeunternehmen der deutschen Bundespost will Pensionsforderungen in Milliardenhöhe verbriefen. Finanzminister Peer Steinbrück (SPD) kann daher mit weiteren Milliarden-Entlastungen für seinen Haushalt rechnen.  Zwar entlasten die Transaktion den Bund in den Jahren 2005 und 2006 mit mehr als sieben Mrd. Euro. Dem stünden aber 9,2 Mrd. Mehrbelastungen von 2007 bis 2021 gegenüber. Sollten die restlichen Forderungen der Postpensionskasse von 9,4 Mrd. Euro auch noch veräußert werden, würde der Bund vier Mrd. Euro draufzahlen. 
Handelsblatt.com Nachrichten: Post-Pensionskasse verkauft Forderungen

Die deutsche Finanzaufsicht Bafin will künftig ein Fünftel der Banken, Versicherungen und Wertpapierhändler genauer unter die Lupe nehmen.
Frankfurter Rundschau online

Pension surpluses could be the next ‘pension scandal’, according to Aon’s investment consulting head Ian McKinlay.  “With a more prudent funding regime now in place, the risk of creating future surplus is now very real,” the firm says in its ‘Intouch Opinion’ newsletter.  Aon estimates that a typical scheme has a 60% chance of being in surplus within 10 years, and a 25% chance of being more than 120% funded.  “The ‘surplus funds’ scenario is clearly in the interests of the members, so no reasonable trustee is going to consider how to avoid it,” said Aon.  “It is therefore up to employers to look at the issue.” 
Investment & Pensions Europe – IPE.com

Hermes, the asset manager of the British Telecom pension scheme, is proposing a radical investment switch that could dramatically reduce the exposure of the UK’s largest pension fund to the UK stock market in favour of overseas stocks and alternatives such as commodities and hedge funds.
FT.com / By industry / Financial services
Hedge Funds explained (Video, Channel 4)

With its new analysis showing the largest U.S. companies continued to shift from traditional pensions to 401(k) plans in 2005, Watson Wyatt Worldwide urges Congress to act on long-standing funding and regulatory issues affecting pensions. In its analysis of retirement plans at FORTUNE 100 companies, Watson Wyatt found that 37 percent offered a traditional pension plan to new hires in 2005, compared with 42 percent in 2004 and 50 percent three years ago.  In 1985, nearly nine out of 10 FORTUNE 100 companies offered a traditional defined benefit plan.

Watson Wyatt

The Philips Pension Fund says splitting its investments into a liability-matching portfolio and a return portfolio has worked out well.  It returned 13.3% in total in 2005, the fund said.  The liability-matching portfolio – containing 60% of its assets, and 75.6% of its pension liabilities – returned 10.4% from its fixed interest investments. “This is equal to the increase of the liabilities due to the interest changes,” the €14.5bn scheme explained in its annual report.
Investment & Pensions Europe – IPE.com

Beijing has asked foreign institutions to apply to manage its holdings overseas, bringing closer formal approval for billions of dollars of pension funds to be invested in foreign stocks and bonds after nearly six years of debate on the issue in China.
FT.com / China /

Aujourd’hui, des fonds de pension, de grands assureurs et des institutionnels publics des différents continents ratifient à Paris les « Principes de l’investissement responsable ». C’est l’étape européenne du lancement de cette initiative entamé le 27 avril à New York autour de Kofi Annan.
Des investisseurs avec l’ONU

China’s State Security Fund Council said it has been approved by the Government to begin to invest overseas as of May 1 of this year. The fund was set up in 2000 by the Chinese Government as a strategic reserve for its ageing population, and its total asset was valued at 201.02 billion yuan (25.1 billion U.S. dollars) by the end of 2005. 
Xinhua – English

The new UK Pension Regulator said many trustees on the boards of company retirement plans lack skills for the job, despite a warning about this issue five years ago.  Pension trustee education lags behind what is necessary, the watchdog said. "Our experience is that the standard of governance of many schemes, especially smaller ones, is poor." 
Reuters.co.uk
The Pensions Regulator Website