All interest rates articles – Page 7
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Opinion
What investors should do in a low-return environment
Sweeping regulatory changes, a lack of savings and a low-return environment present significant challenges for the UK pension industry. Over the next few years we anticipate these issues to escalate as funding challenges persist.
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OpinionWaiting for a rate rise can be bad for your health
Why don’t you want to invest in bonds yet? Is it because interest rates are going to rise which will make them cheaper to invest in later?
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NewsShipbuilding scheme docks £220m into LDI
The Shipbuilding Industries Pension Scheme has committed £220m to a liability-driven investment mandate run by Legal & General Investment Management, as it seeks to derisk and hedge against interest rate rises.
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Opinion
Here to stay? Low interest rates and fixed income investing
Are low interest rates here to stay, and how can pension funds invest in bonds in this environment? In this first part of the Fixed Income Live series, Dalriada's Simon Cohen, Hymans Robertson's John Walbaum, Mercer's Joe Abrams, PGIM's Edward Farley and Willis Towers Watson's Chris Redmond discuss where rates are going and what this means for schemes.
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Opinion
Has LDI become too expensive?
Roundtable: Derisking in an environment of low interest rates makes liability-driven investment look expensive, but is it? In the first part of this roundtable series, Bestrustees’ Huw Evans, HR Trustees’ Giles Payne, Aviva Investors’ Rakesh Girdharlal, KPMG’s Simeon Willis, Cambridge Associates’ Benoît Jacquemont and P-Solve Asset Solutions’ Barbara Saunders discuss what makes the decision to hedge so difficult.
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OpinionVolatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous
Talking Head: The passage of time shows the folly of human speculation – ask any unhedged defined benefit pension fund that has been hoping for rising yields to repair its deficit.
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OpinionA slippery slope
Editorial: European bank shares slid earlier this week as investors became increasingly worried about banks’ ability to pay coupons on so-called coco bonds, or contingent convertible bonds – bonds that turn into equity if a certain trigger event is taking place.
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NewsM&S scheme in ample surplus as hedge pays off
The Marks and Spencer Pension Scheme has swung into surplus, thanks to a combination of outperformance of return-seeking assets and full hedging of interest rate risk, the company said last week.
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Opinion
Corporate schemes shore up portfolios with fixed income and LDI allocations
Data analysis: UK corporate defined benefit schemes upped their allocations to fixed income in the last quarter of 2015, data show, as trustees took the opportunity to hedge out further risk by increasing liability-driven investments.
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OpinionUnderstanding interest rates is key to assessing their impact
From the blog: Changes in interest rates, and more specifically bond yields, can have profound influences on defined benefit and defined contribution schemes, so it is important trustees understand how they work.
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NewsEiopa stress tests stoke fears of holistic balance sheet return
Low rates and falling asset prices have hit pension schemes hard, the first stress test by the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority has shown, and experts warn the holistic balance sheet could still rear its head.
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Opinion
A year of many firsts lies ahead
Editorial: Happy new year! It started with a bang – a stock market slump, circuit breakers suspending trading in China, China suspending the circuit breakers, and the FTSE falling sharply on Monday and Thursday last week.
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NewsTesting market conditions greet 2016
Market volatility is here to stay, experts have said, urging defined benefit trustees to assess their risk management frameworks and eliminate unintended exposures as the year kicks off.
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NewsLow for longer (but longing for higher) rates
Analysis: The US Federal Reserve’s decision on Wednesday to push rates up may mark the end of an era, but investment experts say UK pension funds should expect little more than a small amount of volatility as a result.
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Features
Royal Mail closure plan flags pulldown effect of low rates
The perennial question of whether it is possible to keep defined benefit schemes open to accrual has resurfaced after Royal Mail Group said it could not afford to keep its DB scheme open beyond 2018.
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NewsBrewer's 'salami' derisking tactic is no small beer for liabilities
Midlands-based brewer Marston’s has bought in more than a third of its pension scheme liabilities since 2013 through a series of deals aimed at reducing volatility across its long-dated obligations and providing added security for members.
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Opinion
How have the past 18 months changed fiduciary management?
Roundtable: William Parry from Buck Consultants, HR Trustees’ Giles Payne, Russell Investments’ David Rae, Ralph McClelland from Sackers and Towers Watson’s Pieter Steyn, discuss how recent changes in global markets have affected the fiduciary world, in the final part of this roundtable series.
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OpinionAnd now for the weather...
From the blog: I described in a previous blog a game of epic procrastination that pension schemes like to play: Not Today, Tomorrow Better!
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NewsPremier Foods eats away at deficit by more than £570m
Food manufacturing company Premier Foods decimated its IAS 19 deficit to £32.8m from £603.3m since December 2013 thanks to its hedging strategy and a change in discount rates.
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NewsDebenhams splashes out more on recovery despite surplus
Debenhams pension scheme trustees have secured higher employer contributions as part of the recovery plan despite having reached an IAS 19 surplus earlier this year, demonstrating the discrepancies between two scheme funding calculation methodologies.