ATP’s departure from personal accounts admin contract bid proves the system is working like clockwork, states PADA’s chief executive

More than 70% of independent financial advisers (IFAs) believe the Financial Services Authority (FSA) has been a failure, though there is limited appetite for the Conservative proposals to scrap it, PM and YouGov research has revealed.

A poll of 280 IFAs from across the country found 41% strongly agreed and 30% agreed that the FSA had been a failure.

Pensions experts have called for politicians to take more radical steps in state pension provision following the party conference season.

Yvette Cooper has dismissed the arguments against the removal of higher-rate tax relief on pensions contributions as “implausible”.

Further details of ITV pension scheme’s groundbreaking contingent assets deal have been revealed by the chair of trustees, Graham Parrott.

Conservative shadow pensions minister Nigel Waterson has spoken about his own views on public sector pensions, including repeating his desire to close unfunded schemes.

Liberal Democrat spokesman for work and pensions Steve Webb has criticised pension schemes for not seeking to engage their members in shareholder activism.

Most large pension funds are satisfied customers of securities lending one year after Lehman Brothers’ collapse, a survey by Pensions Week and Data Explorers has found. A survey of the 50 biggest pension funds found 68% currently participate in stock lending, and make on average around £2m a year from the activity.

Providers of default funds are increasing the rate of innovation, despite little movement from employers in adopting new approaches.

More than two-thirds of Britain’s smallest companies fear that the 2012 pension reforms threaten closure or redundancies, Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) figures show.

BP has confirmed it is to offer new staff a contract-based pension from April next year.

Last week, Nigel Waterson – the pretender to the crown of minister for pensions reform – noted a change in dinner party conversations from property market anxieties to the daunting prospect of delaying retirement. And it is not difficult to imagine why.

Companies listed on the stock exchange should be required to disclose information regarding greenhouse gas emissions, according to a survey of fund managers.

Confidence is returning to the investment market just over a year after the onset of the financial crisis, according to Bank of America (BoA) Merrill Lynch.

The European hedge fund industry has continued to see a resurgence in returns, while there is cautious optimism for amendments to the much maligned EU directive.

Most defined contribution (DC) investors would benefit from using passive funds over active vehicles, research from Watson Wyatt has concluded.

Emerging markets equities have rallied some 100% in sterling terms from last year’s lows. The quarter ending in September 2009 was the third best quarter for the asset class in eight years. Although valuations are no longer distressed, and discounts to developed markets narrowed, given the far superior economic growth in emerging economies there is still a lot of potential to generate significant returns.

A group of UK pension funds are about to make a commingled £200m investment in US forestry. Roger Adams, investment director and fund manager at forestry investment firm FIM Services, would not divulge the names of the schemes, but did say that the money is due to be invested in 2010 as the schemes see it as an ideal time to enter the market.

Chartered financial planning firm Informed Choice has launched a low cost, online self-invested personal pension (Sipp).

Demand for small self-administered schemes (SSASs) is still lagging behind that for self-invested personal pensions (Sipps), according to research.

Continued innovation in the annuities market could still fail to provide for the lower end of the market, according to PM research.

Raising the state pension age dramatically could leave older workers in limbo with little or no income, according to the Trades Union Congress (TUC).

I have just read your October Editor’s Letter ‘In this life, one thing counts, in the bank, large amounts’.

I was interested to read in the excellent interview with Frank Field over the storm he caused by suggesting in his Pensions Week column that short selling could have a far more devastating impact on pensions assets and security than Robert Maxwell.

“As the financial system imploded in 2007-2009, the people who always say that this is the end of capitalism as we know it said that this is the end of capitalism as we know it.”

While the industry and DWP endeavour to get people interested in pensions, legislation since A-day has created too many obstacles for the savings process to be simple

I read somewhere that we’ve all got a novel in us; so I decided to write my one out. You never know, I could be the next Dan Brown; stranger things have happened. Apparently most first-time would-be authors (these days I like to count myself among that number) end up writing thinly veiled stories about themselves. As I knew that from the outset I decided I wouldn’t be so coy about it and I deliberately set out to write about the life of a pensions expert amid the tumultuous changes being wrought on the pension system at the close of the 20th century and the dawn of the 21st. To be honest, I think it’s got everything a novel could ask for: a real human interest story set against a background of tremendous social change and political intrigue. Also, as it was going to be about me anyway, I decided that I’d be the hero.

Milton Cartwright has a significant influence on how the UK’s pensions are run and regulated. Owen Walker meets the man behind the headlines and gauges his opinion on pensions reform

The cost of poor management and lack of prioritisation of scheme data will only lead to greater risk in the long term to both sponsors and individual members

The government believes pensions are the best way to encourage people to save more in the long term, and personal accounts is a cornerstone of these plans for reform

The repercussions of flexible working programmes upon pension scheme members’ benefits could be immense, and must be taken into account by every employer

BlackRock’s head of global equity Richard Turnill reveals where he stands on the economic recovery, the undervaluation of the equity markets and retiring to windsurf in Cornwall

Alternatives to conventional annuities are emerging to meet demand, and the rise of DC means the market is forecast to flourish

The gulf between what annuities and unsecured pensions offer could be closed by unit-linked guarantees

Most funds and individuals opt for the conventional annuity at retirement, but is this the best fit product for the majority when its buying power decreases with time?

The hedge fund industry is beginning to recover from a tumultuous two years, but the ensuing regulatory directive coming in from Europe could put added pressure on managers at an already difficult time

Is there a future for legacy defined benefit plans, and what would the perfect scheme look like today if it was designed from scratch?

In a constantly changing environment, how should schemes be communicating with their members and what are the key issues affecting understanding of investment decisions?

Administration provider RPMI has poached Roberst Branagh from Xafinity Paymaster to head its administration business.

The Pension Protection Fund (PPF) has hired Dick Barfield as a non-executive director.

Aviva has appointed Mark Hodges as UK chief executive officer (CEO) as the company looks to restructure and combine its life and general insurance businesses.