The Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC) has invested £50m in Portsmouth Water.

The investment will fund the construction of Havant Thicket Reservoir, the first reservoir built since 1991. Situated in southern Hampshire, the reservoir aims to address the significant water resource challenge faced by much of the South East of England and protect Hampshire’s rare chalk streams. The investment also provides a good match for PIC’s pension liabilities, with the £50 million of CPI-linked senior debt set to mature in 2037, matching pensioner payments. Centrus acted as advisers on the transaction, while Linklaters represented PIC.

Around 90,000 early retirees have re-joined the workforce in past six months.

Recent labour market data revealed that the number of people aged 16-64 who now say they are retired has fallen to 1,110,000 in November-January 2023. This marks a 7 per cent fall in the number of early retirees in the past six months, down from 1,196,000 in May-Jul 2022, with around 90,000 re-joining the workforce. Commenting on the figures, Just Group suggested that cost-of-living pressures driving the trend towards 'unretirement' could be persisting into 2023, warning that, coupled with the market volatility, this could force more older workers to give up the early retirement dream.

SimplyBiz has launched an online regulatory ‘Horizon Scanner’ tool.

The tool is designed to keep member firms up to date with the regulatory activities happening in 2023 and beyond which may affect advisers and their businesses. It is a ‘living document’, which will be constantly updated as policy, consultations, or feedback are released by the regulator, with links to take users to documentation or more detailed guidance elsewhere within the site. SimplyBiz compliance director, Paul Bruns, commented: “Whilst Consumer Duty has been very much the star of the show for the past twelve months, and will require significant attention through 2023 and beyond, there are still some other significant regulatory initiatives coming down the line, waiting for their time in the spotlight.”

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