Balancing the books

Liability-driven investment

Pension deficits are quickly becoming the number one item on many UK company agendas. The introduction of accounting standard FRS17 last year elevated pension liabilities from little-noticed items in the footnotes to headline-grabbing figures on the balance sheet, while a sharp drop in UK bond yields in January briefly added an estimated £30 million to the pension deficits of FTSE-100 companies.

Pension black holes have obstructed mergers and acquisitions involving UK firms, while the country