Press Releases

Commenting ahead of the Bank of England base rate change, Chris Arcari, Head of Capital Market says:

“Despite the larger than expected rise in net spending unveiled in the autumn Budget, and the OBR's forecast of higher near-term inflation as a result, the Bank of England (BoE) is expected to lower rates 0.25% p.a. tomorrow. Headline inflation came in at a below-target pace of 1.7% year-on-year in September and while still elevated, service sector and wage inflation are coming down more quickly than the BoE anticipated in their previous monetary policy report. This opens the door for the BoE to lower interest rates, while still maintaining a relatively restrictive policy stance - that is, real short-term rates would remain materially positive even after a 0.25% p.a. cut. Looking further out, the front-loaded nature of the spending and the OBR's forecast impact on near-term growth and inflation has seen the market shift to expect a slower pace of rate cuts from the Bank of England.”

A change in key Trustee or Company stakeholders can significantly impact a DB Pension Scheme’s endgame investment strategy, says Hymans Robertson. It warns that a change of personnel can transform the objectives the DB scheme is trying to achieve. As the firm releases the latest update to its Excellence in Endgame series, it outlines several scenarios – change of stakeholder, sponsor covenant and even fluctuations in the cost of delivering endgame – which can transform the original endgame plan.

“The budget announced today is bold and ambitious with a clear goal of stimulating sustainable long-term growth, in partnership with enterprise. After almost three decades, there are echoes of the 1997 and 2000 Brown budgets combining the focus on enabling long-term investment on health, education and now the energy transition plus the return of a flavour of the ‘Golden Rule’ that enables borrowing for long term investment. Ten years of sustained growth followed the early Brownite budgets, that’s what the Chancellor will be banking on this time too, and with the ambition for material sustained public investment the narrative is clear. 

Aviva has today announced the completion of a £1.3 billion bulk purchase annuity full buy-in with The RAC (2003) Pension Scheme. The transaction - completed in August 2024 - secures the benefits for all the scheme’s c19,000 members.

Mahad Farooqui has joined Hymans Robertson’s risk transfer team against the backdrop of a record number of buy-in and buy-outs transacting over the first half of this calendar year. Mahad’s move further bolsters the firms risk transfer team, who oversee the process of transferring the risk of Defined Benefit (DB) pension schemes.

The removal of National Insurance Contribution pension relief would be a massive hit to any employers, particularly those wanting to improve retirement income for employees by contributing more than the minimum auto-enrolment (AE) requirement. It would cost a company an additional £442 a year for a 5% contribution to an employee being paid £32k, according to analysis by Hymans Robertson. This assumes an employee and employer pension contribution rate of 5% each under a salary sacrifice payment system*. For a small business employing only 10 people at that salary it would cost nearly £5k -a substantial hit to their bottom line and ability for growth.

The first half of 2024 was another record-breaking period in the risk transfer market, says Hymans Robertson as it releases its biannual risk transfer report published today. The first six months of 2024 saw an unprecedented number (134) of buy-in transactions take place, with the firm’s risk transfer team leading the advice of two-fifths of these transactions by value.

"We expect the government to announce plans to borrow more than previously forecast in the autumn budget. But the government’s long-term growth and investment ambitions need not be beholden to short-term volatility in the gilt market."

The leading financial services firm’s latest consumer research into insurance saving products reveals that the three most desired product features are smoothed returns, guarantees and the potential for long-term growth. If insurers take stock and reflect on how their current offerings match consumer demand, they will more easily spot the existing opportunities to innovate, says the leading financial services consultancy.

"Our research suggests that, as of the 31st of March 2024, just under half of the c.5,000 DB pensions schemes have appointed a professional trustee. Four-fifths (80%) of these professional trustee appointments are represented by the 11 professional trustee firms we spoke to as part of that research."

Hymans Robertson LLP has promoted Nick Ford to Head of UK Insurance & Financial Services (IFS) and Iain Macintyre to Head of Risk & Capital, with Andrew Valentine joining the firm as Head of Insurance Strategy. These promotions further grow the IFS team at the leading financial service consultancy. 

With an expectation that the UK’s pensions system will come under the spotlight on October 30th, the leading pensions and financial services consultancy outlines how potential changes to taxation of the pensions system could affect DC schemes – and how it could affect individuals who save with these schemes.