by Paul Sweeting | Jan 22, 2010 | All, Industry News
President Obama’s proposal to reduce the size of banks and split off the risky operations will, if implemented, reduce the risk of future systemic banking crises. However, it will still leave a number of problems in place. It is intended to cut the number of...
by Paul Sweeting | Jan 10, 2010 | All, Pensions
I have just returned from a very interesting trip to Japan. I was invited to give a series of lectures on enterprise risk management at the University of Kyoto, and to talk to members of the Institute of Actuaries of Japan in Tokyo about the way in which this subject...
by Paul Sweeting | Dec 18, 2009 | All, Pensions
I’ve been thinking about pension scheme valuations. Much of the discussion in this area is around what discount rate should be used to put a value on the liabilities. This means there is an implicit assumption that discounting the liabilities and comparing them...
by Paul Sweeting | Dec 4, 2009 | All, Pensions
A new report has shown that annuity rates have halved over the last 15 years, not least because of falling gilt yields. This is clearly important for people retiring from defined contribution plans, but it is also important for defined benefit schemes and their...
by Paul Sweeting | Dec 2, 2009 | All, Longevity
New research has found a possible genetic explanation for why women live longer than men on average. It seems that the gene that makes male mice stronger than female mice also weakens their immune system. Researchers discovered this by creating mice with two mothers...
by Paul Sweeting | Nov 21, 2009 | All, Pensions
According to Professional Pensions, the Accounting Standards Board is standing by its plans to move to risk-free rates when valuing pensions for accounting purposes. Moving from the current approach (which uses AA-rated corporate bond yields) to a risk-free approach...
by Paul Sweeting | Nov 3, 2009 | All, Pensions
An article in today’s FT considers a proposed reduction in the rate of pension accrual for Church of England clergy, referring to the poor performance of the pension scheme’s assets due to the heavy investment in equities. There are a couple of problems...
