We propose a general framework that can be used to analyse the mortality experience of a large portfolio of lives. The objective of the framework is to provide a firm evidence base to support the setting of future mortality assumptions for the portfolio as a whole or subgroup-by-subgroup. The...

‘Brexit and the City' reviews both the principal issues affecting the City of London following the Referendum vote to leave the EU and the key proposals that have been made for the City's future relationship with the EU. The latter are examined in the light of the European Commission's...

So long as the UK government liberates itself from the protectionist mindset of the EU and reduces trade barriers after Brexit, and UK businesses respond positively to the challenge of increased international competition (through increased productivity), the prospects for UK trade and prosperity...

This paper discusses the financial risks faced by the UK Pension Protection Fund (PPF) and what, if anything, it can do about them. It draws lessons from the regulatory regimes under which other financial institutions, such as banks and insurance companies, operate and asks why pension funds are...

Governments are among the few agencies that can help the private sector hedge against the increasing problem of aggregate longevity risk. David Blake, Tom Boardman, Andrew Cairns and Kevin Dowd from the Pensions Institute at Cass Business School urge governments to issue longevity bonds as soon...

This study sets out a framework to evaluate the goodness of fit of stochastic mortality models and applies it to six different models estimated using English & Welsh male mortality data. The methodology exploits the structure of each model to obtain various residual series that are predicted to...

This study sets out a backtesting framework applicable to the multi-period-ahead forecasts from stochastic mortality models and uses it to evaluate the forecasting performance of six different stochastic mortality models applied to English & Welsh male mortality data. The models considered are:...

This paper analyses the international equity holdings of a large panel of UK pension funds. We find considerable evidence of market timing activity, as illustrated by the funds' decision to scale back investments in the US stock market during the 1990s. To explain this, we jointly model...

This paper examines the financial system prerequisites needed for the successful delivery of funded private pensions. In particular, it examines the financial instruments and investment strategies required during both the accumulation and decumulation stages. It does so within the context of a...

Supporters of collective defined contribution (CDC) pension schemes claim that they can produce higher and more stable incomes than individual defined contribution (IDC) pension schemes. Broadly speaking, there are two types of CDC scheme in existence: one that is a form of DB replacement and...