Pensions to take £90bn hit from QE, says NAPF

Businesses running final-salary pensions are being "clouted" by the government's quantitative easing (QE) programme, says the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF).

The NAPF claimed QE has knocked £90bn off the value of final-salary schemes as it has made government bonds, in which pension funds are big investors, more expensive to buy. This, it said, has served to increase the schemes' deficits. Joanne Segars, chief executive of the NAPF, said: "Businesses running final-salary pensions are being clouted by QE. "Deficits that were already big now look even bigger because of its artificial distortions. "Firms are legally obliged to fill the deficits, and that diverts money away from jobs and investment, and will lead to further closures of f...