Zurich bails out deposit funds

Both the fixed-interest deposit pension fund and the fixed-interest deposit life fund have received a total of £18m directly from Zurich to compensate for problems with mortgage-backed securities. The pension fund is worth around £375m, with a 10% exposure to the risky assets, while the life fund is 5% invested in mortgage securities. Both funds are managed by Threadneedle, which has seen its own money market fund plunge more than 10% over the past three months. Zurich's pension fund was also exposed to Lehman Brothers, with shareholders required to make a one-off payment to prop up t...