19 November 2008
The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has released figures
showing a 20% drop in pension savings for the third quarter, from
£5.3bn last year down to £4.4bn this year. The combined
deficit of UK final salary pension schemes is estimated at
£100bn, with last month alone wiping off £17bn. Falling
share prices have seen pension values lose up to two-fifths in the
past year. Stephen Haddrill, director general of the ABI,
encouraged ministers to introduce auto-enrolment into good pension
schemes now, ahead of the introduction of personal accounts in
2012, as pension savings in the UK were at their lowest level for
50 years.
