17 September 2008
More than 1,000 Lehman Brothers employees face a further blow
after it became apparent that their pensions were no longer safe.
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC), the investment banks' administrator,
said that the company's final salary pension scheme is in
deficit.
PWC said that the pension scheme must now join other creditors
to make an unsecured claim on Lehman's assets. Experts said that
the chance of the scheme receiving any money was slim.
Members of the pension scheme, which closed to new entrants in
1999, would probably have to rely on the Government's Pension
Protection Fund (PPF) to provide their pensions. However because
the PPF annual benefit is capped (currently just over
£27,000) for those people who have not reached their normal
retirement age, high earning employees would be receiving a benefit
less than they would expected from the pension scheme.
The PPF said it had not yet become involved with the Lehman's
pension scheme.
