The Pensions Board has issued guidance which gives troubled defined benefit pension funds more time to get their house in order.
Research from Hewitt suggests that Irish pensions lost up to 2.7% of their value in January this year and an average 0.4% every year for the last decaede. Every one of the 10 fund managers surveyed recorded a negative performance for the month.
Until now, the guidelines stated "the policy of the board is to only consider granting a later effective date no longer than 10 years from that of the funding proposal".
Under the revised guidelines issued yesterday, the board "has now adopted a policy under which it will consider granting an effective date more than 10 years after the effective date of the relevant AFC in appropriate circumstances". It is holding open the prospect of pension funds which have already received time to restore their status returning for further deadline extensions. This will be a significant boost for companies that have found their proposals to restore the balance of their pension funds undermined by global stock markets turmoil.
Please click here to review more details from the Irish Pensions Board.