Pensions shortfall is 55 billion pounds - U.K.

[dArKeR]

By Tom Burroughes

LONDON (Reuters) - The FTSE 100 index must rise by more than 50 percent to over the 6,000 level to erase deficits on the final-salary pensions of leading UK companies, according to a report.

The gap between current pension assets and expected future liabilities surged to more than 55 billion pounds in July this year from 25 billion pounds last year, said actuaries and consultants Lane Clark & Peacock (LCP).

If companies listed on the FTSE 100 do not pump more money into pensions, the stock market would have to rally substantially from the current level of just over 4,100 points to put pensions back into balance, the LCP report said.

"Companies have suffered a double whammy. Equity falls have eroded the market values of scheme assets, while an increase in the value of corporate bonds...has resulted in a rise in scheme liabilities," LCP partner Bob Scott told journalists.

Hundreds of British firms, including household names such as retailers Marks & Spencer, have closed final-salary schemes to new members saying falling markets, rising liabilities and a new accounting rule, known as FRS17, make them too costly to run.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/24by7panews/page.cfm?objectid=13260483&method=full&siteid=50143

Blair and Bush on vacation as the world burns and our children die. But you won't hear that on the Whore Media Networks.

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[sam sarrha]

1. pensions, SSI , are a thing of the past,,, there are rich NEOCON's that

will need the money... pensioners are worthless eaters. An unproductive drain on the war machines conquest for world peace.