Despite the encouraging result, deficits remain at £177bn and current contribution levels are still modest.
Clive Fortes, partner and head of corporate consulting at the firm, praised the results and said they would make pension issues less challenging for firms, but he still warned of complacency.
He said: “This is not to say companies have their pension risks under control, far from it. At current levels of contributions, deficits will remain stubbornly on company balance sheets for many years.”
ETF assets hit new highs in Q3
Global exchange traded fund (ETF) assets reached a record $933bn (€632bn) at the end of Q3 2009, a rise of 4.8 per cent on the previous all-time high of $891bn set in August, according to research from Barclays Global Investors.
In Q3, the global ETF industry had 1,819 ETFs with 3,247 listings from 96 product providers on 40 exchanges worldwide.
European ETFs surged to a record $204bn at the end of Q3, 6.3 per cent above the previous high of $192bn in August and 27.8 per cent above the $160bn of ETFs recorded in July 2008.
Defined benefit pension schemes with high governance capabilities are choosing active management strategies, while those with lower governance are opting for simpler passive management products, according to a report by Watson Wyatt.
Calling on defined contribution schemes to choose passive management, the firm said that in addition to imposing a strain on governance, the fee levels associated with active management should also be taken into consideration when designing an investment strategy.
