Retirement

The head of strategy at the Pensions Regulator has been re-elected as the president of the International Organisation of Pension Supervisors (IOPS).

The Government has dropped plans to issue a blanket ban prohibiting all self-invested pension plans (SIPPs) from holding protected rights.

Government emphasis on increasing long-term savings has taken another blow with publication of a new survey by the British Medical Association suggesting the average level of final-year student debt is now in excess of £20,000 for those on five-year courses....

With just over four months to go until A-Day, 45% of trustees and employers still have not started adapting their pension scheme administration ready for the changes, claims new research by Mercer.

Prudential will be writing to almost half a million customers who are contracted out of the State second pension (S2P) to say they strongly believe they should contract back in for the 2005/2006 tax year onwards.

The Association of British Insurers (ABI) is "mustering the troops" in an effort to come up with an industry alternative to the National Pensions Savings Scheme (NPSS), and could be up and running by 2007 if approved.

Contingent assets, such as parent group guarantees, will be taken into account by the Pension Protection Fund when calculating a company's risk based levy.

Public understanding of annuities has improved but more work is needed as the debate around pensions hots up, according to the Association of British Insurers.

A Treasury consultation on the regulation of sipps is scheduled to close next week, but pension expert John Lawson queries whether the Treasury will drop its plans following the U-turn on residential property and prohibited assets in self-invested pensions....

The changes in the rules affecting residential property as an investment will result in a reduction in the amount of self invested personal pension (Sipp) business according to new research published today.