Investment

The Government has again been defeated on key issues regarding amendments to the Pensions Bill, following the House of Lords' backing to scrap the rule forcing pensioners to buy an annuity at age 75.

The Governments decision to extend coverage of its Financial Assistance Scheme has been taken to the House of Lords and the House of Commons this week for a third reading.

Winterthur Life has launched a new stand-alone site called Morrison-line, designed specifically to provide IFAs with up-to-date pension news, views and regulatory up-dates.

The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) has called for a mandatory retirement age to be set at 65 but with concessions allowing the individual employers to stipulate the end point of the employer-employee relationship.

GE Life has lengthened the guarantee period of its annuity quote and is calling on rival providers to follow suit, as implementation of the Distance Marketing Directive could affect the annuity rate offered.

Pensions specialist, Winterthur Life has warned delays to simplification detail will block IFAs providing absolute advice.

FTSE 100 employers' pension deficits have increased by and aggregated £8bn over a three-month period even though there is an apparent recovery in the equity market, research suggests.

French Bank BNP Paribas is launching a new concept in institutional corporate bond investment which is designed to combat some of the problems pension funds have with investing in corporate bonds.

Product providers signed up to the PASS Fees agreement are prepared to pay a one-off additional contribution to the FSCS levy worth £1.5m.

Lipper, the Reuters fund information supplier subsidiary, has won the tender to provide the ABI with data to beef up monitoring of investment classifications for life and pension funds.