Charles Cowling

JLT Pension Capital Strategies has started a dedicated de-risking service to help sponsors and trustees efficiently work towards a pre-agreed defined benefit exit strategy.

Schemes could shift to 75% bond allocations over the next five years as the desire to reduce investment mismatching gathers pace, a consultant says.

The narrowing spread between yields on corporate bonds and gilts led to falling discount rates and soaring liabilities last year, JLT Pension Capital Strategies says.

More than one-third of active defined benefit scheme members could see their benefits reduced if a £155 flat-rate state pension is introduced in 2015.

Defined benefit pension schemes wiped £93bn off their combined deficits in the last 12 months but the demise of final salary arrangements will not cease, JLT Pension Capital Strategies say.

Benign markets and the shift from RPI to CPI reduced defined benefit deficits from £144bn to £64bn over the past year, Pension Capital Strategies research shows.

The majority of defined benefit pension schemes will be shut this year despite combined deficits decreasing by £121bn in the past year, Pension Capital Strategies says.

The top 100 UK firms' defined benefit schemes knocked £42bn off their combined deficit over the last year, Pension Capital Strategies research shows.

The total deficit of FTSE100 pension schemes decreased to £66bn in the third quarter, Pensions Capital Strategies analysis shows.

The combined deficit of the top 100 UK firms' defined benefit schemes has shrunk by £8bn over the last year, Pension Capital Strategies says.