Phone hacking and the Nobel Prize for Physics
With the Nobel Prizes being awarded today, along with the news that no further action will be taken in the News of the World phone hacking probe, it struck me that there is an obscure link between these two stories. In particular, there is a link between...
The Government consultation on CPI for pensions
The Government has now issued its consultation on CPI for private-sector pensions. This raises a number of issues, and asks some challenging questions. One that will certainly generate responses is the question of whether CPI should be imposed on pension...
The Swiss Re Longevity Bond
Reuters reported recently that Swiss Re was launching a series of longevity bonds to hedge the reinsurer against longevity catastrophe risk. The bonds - issued through Caymans-based Kortis Capital on behalf of Swiss Re - would hedge Swiss Re against...
Measuring inflation – a comparison of RPI and CPI
A lot has been written about the impact that a change from RPI to CPI would have on pension scheme members, the financial markets and the wider economy. There has also been much comment on the differences between the calculation of these indices. But which...
Pensions and CPI
The Government has confirmed plans to link private sector pension increases to CPI rather than RPI, bringing them into line with the proposals for public sector schemes. This could save schemes a significant amount of money - around £100bn by some...
The choices for public sector pension reform
Retirement ages are going to have to rise. This has been made clear in recent suggestions that the State pension age for men will not only rise from 65 to 66 by 2016, but will also continue to rise by one year in every five, which has had some people...