Featured News and Research

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  Global Markets Overview – May 2012

  Our Global Markets Overview provides a high level review and outlook each month for markets and economies.Continue reading...

• Towers Watson releases life expectancy smartphone app

  Towers Watson a global professional services company, has released a smartphone application (app) allowing a user to estimate their own life expectancy. The free app, called TW LifeTime, uses the company’s comprehensive research into mortality rates, to show the user the average life expectancy of a pension scheme member with the same age, gender and postcode profile as their own.Continue reading...

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  Strategy at work - A strong connection

  "It's close, and it's personal," explains Carlos Botero, vice president of human resources for Home Services at DIRECTV. "Our technicians enter our customers' homes and work within their bedrooms and family rooms. This demands an enormous amount of dignity and respect on the part of each technician."Continue reading...

• FTSE350 pension deficits up by £30bn this month

  The collective pension deficits of Britain’s biggest companies have increased by £30 billion since the beginning of May, according to Towers Watson. Total deficits in FTSE350 companies’ pension funds are estimated to have increased from £62 billion at the end of April to £92 billion by 16 May.Continue reading...

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  Strategy at Work - Heinz Client Story

  Heinz turned to long-term partner Towers Watson to help it conduct its first global employee survey.Continue reading...

• Seven out of ten life insurers optimistic in spite of Euro crisis

  Seven out of ten European life insurers (68%) polled in a Towers Watson survey have a positive outlook for their businesses in spite of ongoing market turbulence.Continue reading...

• HR Magazine and HR Review recognised at Towers Watson’s Awards for Excellence in HR Journalism

  HR Magazine took home three prizes at the 2012 Towers Watson Excellence in HR Journalism Awards, held last night at the Serpentine Gallery in London. David Woods, deputy editor of HR Magazine, picked up HR Trade Journalist of the Year and the award for Talent Management and Career Development journalism, while HR Magazine won the gong for Printed HR Publication of the Year.Continue reading...

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  Making better reinsurance decisions

  Reinsurance is often a company’s biggest single asset and its purchase is a strategic function with far-reaching implications for the whole operation. When carried out successfully, it protects a company’s profitability as well as its stability.Continue reading...

• Insights: IAIS insurance core principles

  The global insurance community has been presented with a new set of insurance principles that hold significant implications for company operations.Continue reading...

• Executive Compensation Market Watch - Early May 2012

  In this Issue: Directors’ remuneration reports - AGM results and voting recommendations; Points to note from voting recommendations; Points to note from remuneration reports - single figure and pay scenarios; Shareholder views voiced over CEO pay at Citi and Barclays; Government’s changes to disclosure and voting requirements; Financial Reporting Council consults on UK Corporate Governance Code, Stewardship Code and Auditing Standards; Hermes / NAPF proposed reforms to UK executive remuneration; Latest report by the High Pay Centre examines who decides pay in FTSE 100 companies; Capital Requirements Directive IV (CRD IV); Towers Watson’s seminars: Getting Executive Pay Right; Towers Watson’s Reward Leadership ProgrammeContinue reading...

• Towers Watson releases Standard Formula modelling solutions

  Global professional services company, Towers Watson, is releasing additions to its established capital modelling solutions to help life, non-life and composite insurers perform the Standard Formula calculation that is required by all companies under the Solvency II regime.Continue reading...

• Hedge fund fees get a makeover as investors take the upper hand

  Only around one-third of outperformance from skill should go to hedge fund managers in the form of fees, with the rest going to the investor according to new research from Towers Watson, the global professional services company. In the research, entitled Hedge fund investing – opportunities and challenges, the company argues that this is wholly appropriate given investors place 100% of their capital at risk.Continue reading...

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  Hedge Fund investing - opportunities and challenges

  Our new publication ‘Hedge Fund investing – opportunities and challenges’ aims to provide insights for institutional investors with direct hedge fund portfolios or those considering investing directly in hedge funds. It offers practical analysis and advice about how to structure investments as well as about the investments themselves.Continue reading...

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  Global Markets Overview – April 2012

  Our Global Markets Overview provides a high level review and outlook each month for markets and economies.Continue reading...

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  UK Statistics - April 2012

  Statistics contains the recent history of past statistics as well as the new monthly figures.Continue reading...

• Pensions App for members on the move

  Towers Watson, a global professional services company, has released a smartphone application (app) providing real time pension data for defined contribution (DC) scheme members. Track My Pension, which is now available to UK occupational pension schemes administered by Towers Watson, enables members to view their current fund value, projected benefits, latest transactions and the performance of their funds using a smartphone.Continue reading...

• What the Eurozone crisis and market innovation mean for pension risk transfer

  Bulk annuity and longevity swap providers believe the Eurozone crisis has the potential to close off opportunities for pension schemes looking to transfer risk to third parties, but also to create new ones, according to a report from Towers Watson.Continue reading...

• St George slays death’s dragons: Somerset village named after England’s patron saint tops new life expectancy league table

  Hinton St George in Somerset tops a new life expectancy league table for the UK, according to a study by actuaries at Towers Watson. The village, which is named after England’s patron saint, narrowly edged out Aldeburgh (Suffolk) and Frinton-on-Sea (Essex). Seaview (Isle of Wight) and Ferndown (Dorset) complete the top five.Continue reading...

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  De-risking report 2012 - Provider views in an evolving market

  The results of a survey carried out with several major providers – both insurance companies and investment banks – to gauge their views on what could influence the evolution of the risk transfer market over the next year, as well as drawing on Towers Watson’s experience and analysis of the key drivers of activity during 2011.Continue reading...

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  Real Estate – The Case for Global Diversification

  Global diversification in real estate portfolios is less common than in equity and bonds despite some obvious advantages. In this paper we look at why global diversification makes sense for real estate portfolios and consider what has been holding investors back.Continue reading...