UK gilt market

The government will issue less debt this year but increase the percentage of index-linked gilts it auctions at the expense of short-dated conventional gilts.

The Institute of Cancer Research Pension Scheme has swapped its gilt portfolio for a £30m buy-in with Pensions Insurance Corporation as part of its investment strategy.

The National Employment Savings Trust has cut its allocation to conventional gilts across all 47 of its retirement date funds.

The Western United Group Pension Scheme, one of Vestey Group's schemes, has agreed a £115m buy-in with Rothesay Life.

The Government will pave the way for the issuance of ‘super-long' gilts by removing the current maturity cap.

Scheme sponsors are facing growing pressure to make higher contributions at the same time as their ability to support defined benefit obligations remains depressed, warns PwC.

The government should issue RPI-linked gilts with floor to hedge against deflation, rather than issue 100-year gilts, Hymans Robertson argues.

A "perfect storm of de-risking" could lead to widening pension deficits that will dwarf bond markets, warns the Society of Pension Consultants.

The UK Treasury has called off its weekly gilt auctions for a four-week period between mid-July and mid-August during the Olympics.

Pension funds are uninterested in the chancellor's rumoured 100-year gilt issue and have called for other maturities instead.