The buy-out market, whereby pension liabilities are transferred to a third-party specialist, has changed dramatically in recent years. Many new market entrants have sought to provide opportunities to employers to reduce or eliminate their exposure to defined benefit pension scheme liabilities in a cost-effective fashion. Increases in anticipated longevity, combined with historically low interest rates and poor equity returns, have resulted in substantially increased costs for employers. Together with the credit crunch, the collapse of high-profile banking institutions and a deteriorating economy, they provide yet further reasons for employers and trustees to seek to protect defined benefit liabilities. Buy-outs (and their alternative, buy-ins) have represented an attractive opportunity for trustees and employers alike in seeking to eliminate such exposure. The number of new market entrants and the new 'non-insured' buy-out model have generated considerable competition and a significant reduction in buy-out and buy-in cost. Featuring contributions by leading experts in the field, including the Pension Corporation, Lucida, Hewitt Associates and Pitmans Trustees Limited, this timely title covers topics such as the attractions of the current buy-out market, the non-insured buy-out option, the Financial Services Authority regulated market and the elimination of pension scheme liabilities, as well as an overview of the buy-out market in selected countries. This book is aimed at a broad cross-section of the pension market and is intended to be of practical use to trustees, employers, advisers, administrators and other pension stakeholders in providing a comprehensive guide to how best to tackle the thorny issue of eliminating defined benefit scheme liabilities.

Pension scheme deficits are rarely out of the headlines. Never in their history have they enjoyed their current notoriety, nor has their importance been more apparent. Over 10,000 pension schemes provide pension benefits that are designed to replace a proportion of the recipient's salary when they retire. These schemes are the flagship of the occupational pensions system - and the vast majority are in deficit, some severely. This book is designed to take the reader through how this has come about and what is being done to rectify it. The book includes contributions from leading practitioners in their field, who are grappling with the often highly complex issues that deficits produce on a day-to-day basis, in an accessible and understandable format. Featuring practical analysis on a wide range of issues - from traditional methods of addressing a deficit, alternative methods of funding deficit reduction, investment and employment considerations to the Pensions Regulator and the Pension Protection Fund, the emergence of an alternative buyout market and corporate governance - this book will provide you with the only comprehensive guide to dealing with pension scheme deficits in your practice. Aimed at a broad cross-section of the pensions market, this book will be of great practical use to all who have to deal with a pension fund deficit. Trustees, corporate officers and stakeholders, from chief financial officers and finance directors to pension managers, and the entire range of advisers - accounting, actuarial and legal - will find the book of interest and practical use.