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15-Jul-08 11:30 [Pensions]
£45bn wiped off pension values in a month Stock market falls over June resulted in the value of final-salary pension schemes going down by £45bn, it has emerged.
With the FTSE 100 Index losing nearly ten per cent of its value during June, the UK's 7,800 defined benefit pension schemes saw collective surplus fall from £53.4 billion to £8.3 billion after figures released by the Pension Protection Fund (PPF).
The government agency revealed that the funding problems had now resulted in a shortfall faced by all pension schemes totalling £63.1 billion in June, up from £45.7 billion in May and three times higher than the same period last year.
The PPF was established by the government to give financial assistance to individuals should their employer go bankrupt.
Last month the PPF said: "Over the past year, the negative impact of equities on scheme assets, combined with falling bond yields, have led to an overall worsening of the funding position."
Last month, it was announced by the government that pension opt-out incentives were to be made illegal if its Pensions Bill was to go through, coming into force in 2012.
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