IPE: Pensions liabilities should be discounted against non-bonds

09 July 2012

Pension liabilities should no longer strictly be measured against bond yields, according to the Society of Pension Consultants (SPC), which argued in favour of bond-like assets being taken into consideration when assessing a scheme's health.

Speaking at the launch of its White Paper – Vision 2020 – society president Roger Mattingly also discussed the potential of smoothing the yield curve – although he conceded that the UK would likely have to consider a one-year smoothing approach, as the three-month approach adopted by the Netherlands would not make "a blind bit of difference".  Mattingly also called for a more cohesive pensions strategy from the government, criticising the lack of an overall plan for reform, but praising the fact that many recent changes had enjoyed cross-party support.

While welcoming the National Association of Pension Funds' plans for a Pension Infrastructure Platform, WinterFrost [member of SPC's investment council] said any returns offered through such an infrastructure vehicle would, at first, be more akin to equity returns due to the construction phase of any projects.

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