UK - The London Borough of Haringey has split the investment and actuarial services for its £605.2m (€757m) pension fund between Hewitt Associates and Hymans Robertson.

Haringey initiated a search for an investment and actuarial provider in February for a three-year contract - valued at around £166,000 - which would include the completion of the next triennial valuation in 2010. [See earlier IPE.com article: Haringey seeks investment and actuarial services]

Hymans Robertson previously provided both investment and actuarial advice to the local authority fund, and completed the latest actuarial valuation on 31 March this year. It revealed the funding position had improved from 69% to 77.7% with a £227m deficit.

The pension fund also reviewed its investment strategy in March 2007. Financial statements also revealed it lost £14.8m in the year to March 2008, with total assets down from  £620m at the actuarial valuation in March 2007 to £605.2m presently.

The loss was attributed to a £45.1m fall in the market value of the scheme's investments, although this was offset by £15m from employer and employee contributions - and £15.3m in investment returns.

The new strategy underperformed its benchmark, adopted on 1 April 2007, by 2.22% in it's first year, and by 0.86% in the first three months of 2008.

Overall, the pension fund returned -4.73% in the year to 31 March, against a benchmark of -0.86%. First quarter 2008 performance was -7.45%, more than one percentage point lower than the target return of -6.18%.

Elsewhere, The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has appointed Deloitte & Touche to provide internal audit services, while the board of the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) has issued a tender for an administration and payroll service provider.

The five-year contract, which has the option of a further two-year extension, will require the successful applicant to provide compensation and pension administration services as well as payroll services.

The closing date for applications to the PPF contract is 8 August, with invitations to participate expected to be issued on 15 September.

If you have any comments you would like to add to this or any other story, contact Nyree Stewart on + 44 (0)20 7261 4618 or email nyree.stewart@ipe.com

 

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