Index fund meaning

Broadstone reported that data from the Pension Protection Fund’s monthly index showed the figure had risen from a £442.3bn surplus at the end of February. For the 5,050 UK defined benefit schemes assessed, the index indicated total assets of £1,434.3bn at March’s end, while total liabilities stood at £978.8bn across the cohort. Over the same period, the funding ratio edged up from 146.1% to 146.5%, a modest uplift. Sarah Elwine, Broadstone’s actuarial director, called the 'positive funding environment' welcome news for defined benefit pension schemes...

On 24 December 2024, the package of proposals amending EMIR to make EU derivatives clearing more attractive (EMIR 3.0) took effect. The EMIR 3.0 Regulation is available here. The EMIR 3.0 Directive is available here. These proposals seek to make derivatives clearing in the EU more attractive. EMIR 3.0 Regulation EMIR 3.0 refreshes clearing, risk mitigation and reporting requirements, adjusts certain exemptions from clearing and margining, and makes further miscellaneous updates (including a requirement to validate initial margin models). Validation of initial margin models is expressly required. We outline the principal changes under EMIR 3.0 relevant to financial counterparties, such as Irish funds. Two headline duties in the EMIR 3.0 Regulation — the active account obligations and the new framework for initial margin model validation (IMMV) — are anticipated to affect only a limited subset of Irish funds. Although most EMIR 3.0 measures apply from 24 December 2024, some provisions in the Regulation follow different commencement schedules. Changes to the Clearing Calculation EMIR 3.0 adds a...

Britain’s Pension Protection Fund (PPF) has issued its January 2024 bulletin on the PPF 7800 index, outlining the projected funding status for the 5,050 defined...

ARCHIVED: This Practice Note has been archived and is not maintained. A significant restructuring of the UK listing regime came into effect on 29 July 2024, removing the premium and standard listing segments and establishing a single listing category covering equity shares issued by commercial companies. That commercial companies category is highly disclosure-driven, and it operates alongside other categories, including shell companies, secondary listings, and closed-ended investment fund categories. To give effect to these changes, the UK Listing Rules sourcebook came into force, while the previous Listing Rules sourcebook was revoked. For further information and context, see Practice Note: Reform of the UK listing regime—fundamentals. This Resource Note describes the regime as it stood before 29 July 2024 and is retained solely for reference purposes. It signposts relevant commentary, analysis and resources designed to help with interpreting, and to provide practical guidance on applying, Chapter 2 of the former Listing Rules that were in force prior to 29 July 2024...

This Practice Note explains the legal framework governing rent and rent review clauses in Scottish commercial leases. For disputed elements of rent and rent review, see Practice Notes: Rent arrears in commercial leases—recovering—Scotland and Commercial property rent review disputes—Scotland. Rent At common law, one essential requirement for a lease is the obligation to pay rent, even if only a token sum. Rent is typically due quarterly in advance on the Scottish quarter days; however, it is also frequent for leases where the landlord is an English property company or pension fund to specify payment on the English quarter days (see below) to maintain uniformity across the landlord's portfolio. After the 2008 recession, retail tenants increasingly sought to pay rent monthly in advance, and many landlords have been willing to consent to this. Such arrangements are generally personal to the original tenant and are recorded by a back letter; see Practice Note: Back letters to commercial leases in Scotland. The new Scottish quarter days are: Candlemas,...

FORTHCOMING DEVELOPMENT : Section 10 of the Finance Act 2022 is set to lift the normal minimum pension age (NMPA) from age 55 to age 57, with effect from 6 April 2028, while members of the firefighters, police and armed forces public service pension schemes are excluded from the change. The Act further provides that members of registered pension schemes may draw benefits before 57 where, on or before 4 November 2021, they already held an ‘unqualified right’ to access benefits, or were already in the midst of a substantive transfer to a scheme that, on or before 4 November 2021, conferred an unqualified right to a protected pension age of under 57. To rely upon this protection in 2028, the scheme’s rules must, as at 11 February 2021, have expressly contained an unqualified right to take entitlement to scheme benefits before reaching age 57. For additional guidance, see Practice Note: Increasing the normal minimum pension age (NMPA) to 57—pensions impact...

How should the trustees report the amount of the debt for the purposes of IHT ten-year charge? Should they include any index-linked element of the debt? We have found no authority directly answering this. The principal, or ten‑year, charge is imposed on the value of relevant property held by the trustees immediately before the ten‑year anniversary (TYA). See Practice Note: Relevant property trusts—the principal (ten‑year) charge. Where the trustees’ asset is encumbered by a charge with an index‑linked feature, the trust fund must be valued correctly just before the TYA. That exercise turns on the precise balance outstanding at that point and on whether the index‑linkage ought to be reflected, notwithstanding it would only bite once the loan is redeemed. As a broad rule, where property is charged, the amount secured is deductible from the property’s value when computing the IHT charge (section 5(3) and sections 162–166 of the Inheritance Tax Act 1984 (IHTA 1984)). There are, however, limited departures from that general position. Consequently, the amount to be...