Pension fund shake-up to boost bond demand

UK pension funds

Pension fund managers are used to assessing the creditworthiness of the companies whose bonds they buy. But now they have to pay more attention to a type of credit risk that's a bit closer to home. Earlier this year the government issued guidelines recommending that funds in the UK tailor their funding and investment policy to the risk profile of their sponsor companies, as part of an update to the November 2004 Pensions Act.

"Trustees used to assume that the scheme would be in surplus,