The overall pension deficit of schemes sponsored by FTSE 350 companies has increased by £30bn over the last two weeks, according to consultancy Towers Watson.

Publishing its estimates today, the firm said the total deficit of FTSE 350 schemes had increased to £92bn since the end of April as yields on corporate bonds fell.

Towers Watson head of UK pensions John Ball said the eurozone crisis had pushed interest rates on gilts and corporate bonds, which made pension liabilities look bigger.

“Real interest rates are close to historic lows, especially now that inflation expectations have crept back up after softening earlier this month. An increase in pension deficits of £30bn for FTSE 350 schemes in the space of a fortnight shows how easy it is for hard-earned profits to be offset by changes to the pension obligations on a company's balance sheet when markets are volatile,” Ball said.

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