MetLife Assurance

This month's panellists discuss risk-reduction

US/UK - UK and US defined benefit plans agree measuring liabilities is the most pressing risk factor affecting schemes, but they take drastically different views on most other risk factors, a new study shows.

This month the panellists discuss the arbitrage opportunities that come with QE, how insurers will help schemes cope with the switch from RPI to CPI, and their predictions of the effect of lower initial premiums paid on buy-ins

IRELAND - MetLife Assurance has launched its bulk annuity business in Ireland to cater for a growing demand for buyout solutions in the republic.

Finance directors should shift de-risking up the boardroom agenda if they think it is important to the future of the company, MetLife says.

MetLife chief executive Dan DeKeizer has written to the Debt Management Office requesting it looks again at issuing CPI-linked gilts.

Trustees of closed DB schemes should investigate de-risking quickly as sponsor willingness to support the plan will diminish over time, MetLife Assurance says.

Market volatility has eroded annualised returns from direct investment in the FTSE 100 to 0.5% over the past ten years, MetLife Europe says.

Member benefits will be compromised if the Consumer Prices Index is used instead of Retail Prices Index to measure price inflation, MetLife Assurance says.

A record £12.5bn risk transfer deals were done in the first half of the year and a quarter of major firms will de-risk by 2012, Hymans Robertson predicts.