Earlier this year, Mercer Human Resource Consulting asked finance executives around the world to answer several questions about the management of their defined benefit (DB) pension risks. Topics included:

• Concern and actions regarding level and volatility of profit and loss costs and funding requirements
• Recent or anticipated changes to pension fund asset allocation or plan design
• Perceptions of how investors and analysts view plan sponsors’ pension situations

In total, we received 312 survey responses. More than half (167) were from organizations based in the US, while the remaining responses came predominantly from Continental Europe (52), the UK (44) and Canada (29).

The survey questionnaires were completed in the summer, in particular before the US Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA) was passed. The result of this is that some of the trends the survey anticipates are already under way in the US.

Questions or comments about this survey can be directed to your local Mercer consultant or to Sally Armbruster (Philadelphia) at sally.armbruster@mercer.com