Pensions - Articles - A steady month sees gradual funding progression

 The Broadstone Sirius Index – a monitor of how various pension scheme strategies are performing on their journeys to self-sufficiency – posts its latest update.

 The Broadstone Sirius Index reports its August update, finding steady gradual improvement in defined benefit pension scheme funding.

 The 50% hedged scheme is now nearing full funding on a self-sufficiency basis, improving from 99.1% to reach 99.6%, with its deficit decreasing by £0.2m to £0.1m.

 The fully hedged scheme saw a smaller, but still positive, gain with funding rising from 69.0% to 69.1% while its deficit remained similar.

 Chris Rice, Head of Trustee Services at Broadstone, commented: "Markets have calmed since the sudden bout of economic volatility that greeted fears of a recession in the United States.

 “While fears in the UK continue to linger around the fiscal environment and the actions of the Chancellor ahead of the Autumn Statement, for now the market remains calm which has helped the 50% hedged scheme edge closer to full funding on a self-sufficiency basis.

 “It means there is continued demand for de-risking solutions and we continue to contend that there is room in the market for a whole range of competing solutions. Consequently, we are seeing developments in the risk settlement space such as innovation and increased capacity from insurers, the introduction of commercial consolidators and the potential launch of a Public Sector Consolidator.”