UK pension funds urged to join US class action lawsuits
October 12 2009, 3:13 pmUK local authorities could recover millions of pounds lost on pension investments in the past two years if they take part in US class action lawsuits.
About £500m (€546m, $794m) of these losses could be recouped, according to a study by Goal Group, a class action services specialist. But some local authorities are still not bothering to claim damages for cases relating to mismanagement.
“A number of pension funds are missing out on their legal right to claim damages of about £125m, throwing away an opportunity to regain pension money that belongs to local authority employees,” said Stephen Everard, managing director.
“This is a wake-up call to public sector pension funds to participate,” he added.
He estimates about 25-30 per cent of country councils are not making claims and attributes this to “apathy, understaffing and underfunding”. From the beginning of 2007 to date, the value of local authority pension fund portfolios have declined by £31bn, the study showed.
West Midlands Pension Fund said it had recovered over $700,000 through claims over a number of years, including against Federal Home Loan and Royal Ahold.
Source: FT Adviser | Published: 12 October 2009
