Aon launches online bulk annuity assessment
by Gill Montia
Story link: Aon launches online bulk annuity assessment
Aon Hewitt has launched an online Settlement Readiness Assessment, open to all UK defined benefit pension schemes. The test is designed to provide an overview of a scheme’s readiness to move to a bulk annuity, with the results analysed to show how close a scheme could be to taking up a de-risking solution. The firm’s [...]
Jelf launches new pension proposition
by Gill Montia
Story link: Jelf launches new pension proposition
Jelf Employee Benefits has launched a new pension proposition aimed at ensuring employers and their staff get the support they need in the light of increasing pension legislation. The offering, which comprises “Jelf Money at Work” and “Jelf Money after Work” takes a holistic approach, looking after the complete pension journey from joining through to [...]
ATMs, smartphones and TVs could unlock pension top-up potential
by Gill Montia
Story link: ATMs, smartphones and TVs could unlock pension top-up potential
The UK’s pensions providers need to find new ways for people to top up and manage their pension payments, according to research from Friends Life. A study for Friends by the Future Foundation indicates that millions of Britons are keen to pay into their pensions using an ATM, making deposits in cheques, cash and by [...]
Retirement plans in tatters for one in five
by Gill Montia
Story link: Retirement plans in tatters for one in five
The UK is probably headed towards a perfect retirement storm, according to Standard Life. New research from the life and pensions provider suggests that one in five 45 to 65-year-olds who have made financial provision for retirement believe their plans are inadequate, due to the financial crisis. Of those still working, 6% don’t expect to [...]
Budget weddings enhance retirement
by Gill Montia
Story link: Budget weddings enhance retirement
Top savings advice from today’s retirees to the younger generation is to spend less on expensive life events such as weddings, according to research from Aviva. The budget wedding needs to be followed by few children, if financial security in retirement is to be achieved, with other savings advice from beyond retirement including: Shopping around [...]
LV= first-half life sales up 9%
by Gill Montia
Story link: LV= first-half life sales up 9%
LV=’s life sales increased 9% during the six months to the end of June, to £69.3 million. The mutual reported an 11% increase in retirement business, with annuity sales rising 14% and pension sales up 10%, while protection sales leapt 16%. The firm’s life managing director, Richard Rowney, says: “LV=’s life business has had a [...]
Pru bungles pension fund valuations
by Gill Montia
Story link: Pru bungles pension fund valuations
Prudential is contacting 39,000 pension customers whose funds have been incorrectly valued, The Daily Telegraph reports. According to the newspaper, the Pru will be paying out £4 million over mis-pricing errors affecting Scottish Amicable unit-linked pension plans between June 2004 and December 2008. Problems occurred over the allocation of tax on income earned on unit-linked [...]
Aviva launches salary-exchange calculator
by Gill Montia
Story link: Aviva launches salary-exchange calculator
Aviva is launching a salary-exchange calculator for advisers, which can help demonstrate the benefits of salary exchange to clients. Salary exchange (also known as salary sacrifice) involves employees trading part of their salary or bonus in exchange for a pension contribution from their employer. Using the method, employees and employers pay lower National Insurance contributions, [...]
Ageas sells Turkish life and pensions business
by Gill Montia
Story link: Ageas sells Turkish life and pensions business
Ageas (previously Fortis) has announced that it has reached an agreement with BNP Paribas Assurance on the sale of its pension and life activities in Turkey. The disposal, for an undisclosed sum, is in line with the group’s strategy of streamlining its current portfolio. Ageas acquired Fortis Emeklilik ve Hayat in 2005, as part of [...]
Aviva to ditch final salary pension scheme
by Gill Montia
Story link: Aviva to ditch final salary pension scheme
Aviva is proposing changes to its UK staff pension arrangements for employees of both Aviva and the group’s RAC business. The insurer has been reviewing its pension commitments in light of the future funding requirements, and wants to switch 7,600 staff from final salary benefits to money purchase arrangements, from 1st April 2011. Under the [...]
AEGON overpays drawdown customers
by Gill Montia
Story link: AEGON overpays drawdown customers
AEGON has admitted to a computer error that has led to 7,000 of its income drawdown customers unknowingly receiving overpayments. No reimbursements will be demanded from savers, but those affected will see their income reduced. The pensions, protection and investment firm says its system failed to accurately record whether pension savers took a 25% tax-free [...]
Standard Life profit down 35%
by Gill Montia
Story link: Standard Life profit down 35%
Standard Life saw profit slump 35% in the first half of 2009, as pension sales weakened and asset values fell. Pre-tax operating profit came in at £348 million for the period, down from £534 million a year earlier. Net inflows from the group’s worldwide life and pensions operations stood at £662 million, compared with £1,842 [...]
Pensions crisis looming with 50% saving nothing
by David Masters
Story link: Pensions crisis looming with 50% saving nothing
Half of Brits aged 20 to 60 risk a postponed retirement by not putting any savings into a pension fund, according to the results of a new BBC survey. Only one in three of those under thirty are putting money in a pension pot. Even in the older age group of 41 to 60 year [...]
Aviva follows Aon in overhauling pension scheme
by Gill Montia
Story link: Aviva follows Aon in overhauling pension scheme
Aviva has joined Aon in making changes to its pension scheme to ride out the credit crisis and recession. According to a report in The Times, around 15,900 Aviva staff will no longer benefit from a defined contribution (DC) scheme that has been completely free, while thousands of final-salary scheme members will see their contributions [...]
Women over £6k a year worse off than men in retirement
by Gill Montia
Story link: Women over £6k a year worse off than men in retirement
Prudential has revealed some shocking statistics highlighting the discrepancy between the pension incomes of men and women. The Prudential Class of 2009 retirement survey suggests that the estimated 2.76 million women in the UK who plan to retire this year expect to receive an average pension income £6,642 behind that of their male peers. For [...]
Aon cuts employer’s pension contribution
by Gill Montia
Story link: Aon cuts employer’s pension contribution
Aon’s UK division is proposing to cut the contribution it makes to employees’ pensions as part of a cost reduction strategy. The firm has already closed its final salary scheme and according to a BBC report is now proposing to reduce the level of its employer contributions by up to a half. Aon has been [...]
Norwich Union cuts with-profits bonuses
by Gill Montia
Story link: Norwich Union cuts with-profits bonuses
Aviva-owned Norwich Union (NU) has cut bonuses on its with-profits policies. Effective 1st January, 2.3 million policyholders will receive payouts worth up to 15% less than a year earlier. As a result, a 25-year Norwich Union endowment mortgage costing £50 per months is worth £42,322, compared to £45,911 at the beginning of 2008. In the [...]
FSA review exposes poor advice on pension transfers
by Gill Montia
Story link: FSA review exposes poor advice on pension transfers
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has been reviewing the quality of advice given to customers wanting to switch into a personal pension or self-invested personal pension (SIPP) plan. The study focused on transfers since April 2006 from any registered pension scheme to a personal pension plan or SIPP, excluding transfers to group personal pensions, group [...]
NU compensates stakeholder pension customers
by Gill Montia
Story link: NU compensates stakeholder pension customers
Norwich Union (NU) has announced that it will be compensating some of its pension customers by around £300 each. The insurer has discovered an error in its scale of administrative charges which means that some people who bought the company’s stakeholder pensions have been overpaying. Stakeholder pensions were introduced in April 2001 under legislation that [...]
Aon estimates 28% decline in DC pension assets
by Gill Montia
Story link: Aon estimates 28% decline in DC pension assets
Research from Aon Consulting indicates the extent to which the credit crisis has impacted on the pension pots of Britons who are not members of final salary schemes. According to Aon, turbulent markets and plummeting share prices have wiped billions of pounds of the value of employees’ defined contribution pension funds. Around four million people [...]
