http://www.watsonwyatt.com Latest Watson Wyatt News en-us Copyright 2010 Watson Wyatt Worldwide http://backend.userland.com/rss091 3/10/2010 6:31:17 PM 20 Towers, Perrin, Forster & Crosby, Inc. and Watson Wyatt Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE, NASDAQ: WW), both leading global consulting firms, announced that at their respective special meetings of shareholders, each held earlier today, their shareholders adopted the merger agreement pursuant to which the companies will combine their businesses. Approximately 97% of the shares of Towers Perrin common stock issued and outstanding as of November 2, 2009, the record date for Towers Perrin’s special meeting, were voted in favor of adoption of the merger agreement. In addition, Watson Wyatt shareholders approved the combined company’s long term incentive plan. Approximately 99% of the shares of Watson Wyatt Class A common stock present and entitled to be cast on November 3, 2009, the record date for Watson Wyatt’s special meeting, were voted in favor of adopting the merger agreement, and approximately 85% were voted in favor of the long term incentive plan. [Global]http://www.watsonwyatt.com/search/parser.asp?ID=22910Watson Wyatt’s investment outlook for 2010 [Europe]http://www.watsonwyatt.com/search/parser.asp?ID=22884The number of employers planning to offer annuities to participants in their 401(k) plans is expected to grow as companies look for ways to provide workers with a steady distribution of benefits during retirement, according to a survey by Watson Wyatt, a leading global consulting firm. This finding comes on the heels of an announcement by the Department of Labor in early December that it will explore steps it can take to encourage employers to offer lifetime annuities or similar lifetime distribution options in their defined contribution (DC) plans. [United States]http://www.watsonwyatt.com/search/parser.asp?ID=22888UK - December 15, 2009 - Watson Wyatt has recruited Paul Herbert from Hewitt Associates to its Defined Contribution (DC) team, which brings the number of new associates hired into its Investment business since August to 27. [Europe]http://www.watsonwyatt.com/search/parser.asp?ID=22859As companies prepare for the economic recovery, many are poised to enter 2010 with renewed interest in improving their HR technology systems, processes and organizational structures, according to experts at Watson Wyatt, a leading global consulting firm. [United States]http://www.watsonwyatt.com/search/parser.asp?ID=22868Sales of enhanced annuities fell to £415.8 million in the third quarter of 2009, a decline of 7 per cent relative to the previous quarterly figure of £447.7 million, according to research by consultants Watson Wyatt. [Europe]http://www.watsonwyatt.com/search/parser.asp?ID=22869UK - December 14, 2009 - The coming year will be another challenging one for UK pensions professionals, according to Watson Wyatt. The firm believes there will be five key trends during 2010. [Europe]http://www.watsonwyatt.com/search/parser.asp?ID=22858UK - December 14, 2009 – The pure protection market in the UK will shrink if the Retail Distribution Review (RDR) is directly read across to it, according to senior insurance executives attending a debate hosted by Watson Wyatt [Europe]http://www.watsonwyatt.com/search/parser.asp?ID=22861UK – December 14, 2009 – Less than a week after the Chancellor announced another delay to the timetable for introducing the Government’s pension reforms, it has been reported that one of the two remaining bidders to supply administration services to the new personal accounts scheme has dropped out. [Europe]http://www.watsonwyatt.com/search/parser.asp?ID=22863UK - December 13, 2009 - The Government’s estimates of future public sector pension costs assume that a substantial increase in the size of the UK population will not require any increase in the number of people employed in public services, according to Watson Wyatt. [Europe]http://www.watsonwyatt.com/search/parser.asp?ID=22857UK - December 10, 2009 - The Chancellor's announcement on public sector pensions concerns savings that have already been banked and will not make an additional contribution to curbing the budget deficit, according to Watson Wyatt. [Europe]http://www.watsonwyatt.com/search/parser.asp?ID=22840WASHINGTON, D.C., December 9, 2009 — U.S. employees saw the fair value of their new company stock option awards decline by nearly 10 percent last year, according to a recent analysis by Watson Wyatt, a leading global consulting firm. [United States]http://www.watsonwyatt.com/search/parser.asp?ID=22825UK - December 9, 2009 - The Government has said that it will save £0.1 billion in 2012/13, £0.7 billion in 2013/14 and £1.6 billion in 2014/15 through a “change to the implementation of private pension reform, including to the timetable for employers joining the reform” (p11 and p85). [Europe]http://www.watsonwyatt.com/search/parser.asp?ID=22834The vast majority of Exchange Trade Funds (ETFs) are an unattractive long-term investment option for most institutional investors according to Watson Wyatt, a leading global consultant. The firm says that while the development of the sector has driven a great deal of product innovation, institutional investors should consider ETFs in conjunction with alternative options because ETFs generally have higher fees than many institutional index products; may have tax implications that require specialist advice; and often contain counterparty risks which investors may not be compensated for. The firm also suggests that there is a great deal of development within indexation, which is likely to offer passive investors a broader range of options and better risk-adjusted returns than those currently available. [Asia-Pacific]http://www.watsonwyatt.com/search/parser.asp?ID=22837GLOBAL, December 7, 2009 — As the financial crisis spread over the U.S. economy, some industries absorbed the impact better than the rest. The aerospace and defense (A&D) sector has been one of the strongest in sales and employment growth during the past year, reporting record figures in a time of generalized market failure. Still, the poor performance of markets saw pension risk skyrocketing, according to the special A&D issue of Visions, a Watson Wyatt global research publication. [Global]http://www.watsonwyatt.com/search/parser.asp?ID=22810The vast majority of Exchange Trade Funds (ETFs) are an unattractive long-term investment option for most institutional investors according to Watson Wyatt, a leading global consultant. [Europe]http://www.watsonwyatt.com/search/parser.asp?ID=22812UK – December 7, 2009 -The increasing number of Defined Contribution (DC) scheme members approaching retirement age without sufficient savings will drive innovation for post retirement solutions according to a new paper from Watson Wyatt. [Europe]http://www.watsonwyatt.com/search/parser.asp?ID=22791WASHINGTON, D.C., December 7, 2009 — In order to communicate messages to workers in a complex business environment, a majority of companies plan to increase their use of social media in the coming year, according to a survey by Watson Wyatt, a leading global consulting firm. [United States]http://www.watsonwyatt.com/search/parser.asp?ID=22799Towers, Perrin, Forster & Crosby, Inc. and Watson Wyatt Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE, NASDAQ: WW), both leading global consulting firms, today announced that they have been granted conditional clearance from the European Commission to allow the Parties to proceed with their merger to form Towers Watson & Co. U.S. antitrust authorities previously cleared the transaction. [Global]http://www.watsonwyatt.com/search/parser.asp?ID=22788UK – December 4, 2009 – Sales of variable annuities fell significantly in the third quarter of 2009, according to research from consultants Watson Wyatt. Third quarter variable annuity sales in the UK were £143.1million compared to the second quarter total of £343.7 million. [Europe]http://www.watsonwyatt.com/search/parser.asp?ID=22790Employers could inadvertently create pensions tax relief problems for employees if they bring forward bonuses into the current tax year, warns Watson Wyatt. [Europe]http://www.watsonwyatt.com/search/parser.asp?ID=22763European companies face a communication and engagement challenge with continued limited pay budgets potentially failing to meet employee expectations, according to consultants Watson Wyatt. [Europe]http://www.watsonwyatt.com/search/parser.asp?ID=22761WASHINGTON, D.C., December 1, 2009 — With employee benefit choices becoming more complex, a growing number of employers are providing self-service decision-making tools to workers during open enrollment season, according to a new survey by Watson Wyatt, a leading global consulting firm. A majority of employers who offer these tools believe they lead employees to make changes in their plan decisions. [United States]http://www.watsonwyatt.com/search/parser.asp?ID=22782Institutional investors should be preparing now for the return of inflation according to a Watson Wyatt report, but it warns that accurately timing protection strategies will be difficult. [Europe]http://www.watsonwyatt.com/search/parser.asp?ID=22762WASHINGTON, D.C., November 30, 2009 — Despite pressure to reduce budgets, many large U.S. employers are ramping up initiatives to improve worker health and productivity, according to a survey by Watson Wyatt, a leading global consulting firm, and the National Business Group on Health, an association of more than 280 mostly large employers. At the same time, employers are finding that more workers are using their health services and experiencing higher levels of stress. [United States]http://www.watsonwyatt.com/search/parser.asp?ID=22767Watson Wyatt moved its Manchester office last weekend to the new Belvedere building in Manchester city centre. [Europe]http://www.watsonwyatt.com/search/parser.asp?ID=22770On November 25, 2009, the Personal Accounts Delivery Authority (PADA) published its findings from the consultation on potential investment approaches for the new person accounts plan into which millions of new pension savers will be automatically enrolled after 2012. [United Kingdom]http://www.watsonwyatt.com/search/parser.asp?ID=22805On October 22, 2009, the European Court of Justice pronounced in support of the overall parental leave framework by ruling in favor of an employee who claimed that compensation for dismissal should be based on full salary, rather than the reduced pay being received while the employee was on parental leave. [Europe]http://www.watsonwyatt.com/search/parser.asp?ID=22809Since October 19, 2009, pension fund administrators (AFPs) have been allowed to invest a larger share of their assets in foreign instruments, following a resolution by the Peruvian Central Bank. [Peru]http://www.watsonwyatt.com/search/parser.asp?ID=22817Despite the economic turbulence of the past year and the high employer spend on benefits across the region, many organizations in Asia-Pacific still have not reviewed their benefits strategies, according to Watson Wyatt’s “2009 Asia-Pacific Benefits Trends Survey Report.” [Asia-Pacific]http://www.watsonwyatt.com/search/parser.asp?ID=22807Workmen's compensation has been increased effective November 6, 2009. As a result, insurance companies have announced that they may raise employer contributions. [Argentina]http://www.watsonwyatt.com/search/parser.asp?ID=22818Cross-border differences in the focus and pace of change in gender pay equality are leaving multinational employers exposed to compliance risks, according to consultants Watson Wyatt. [Europe]http://www.watsonwyatt.com/search/parser.asp?ID=22749The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and the Personal Accounts Delivery Authority (PADA) have published their response to the public consultation on the rules governing personal accounts. Although no substantial policy changes are recommended as a result of the consultation, a few amendments have been made to make the policy intent clearer. [United Kingdom]http://www.watsonwyatt.com/search/parser.asp?ID=22813 [Europe]http://www.watsonwyatt.com/search/parser.asp?ID=22728Watson Wyatt has identified and ranked fifteen extreme risks that would have a high impact on global economic growth and asset returns if they occurred. In a new paper, entitled Extreme Risks, the firm ranks depression, hyperinflation and excessive leverage as its top three based on their impact and the risk together with the degree of uncertainty in assessing the risk. The bottom three are the end of fiat money, a major global conflict and a killer pandemic. [Asia-Pacific]http://www.watsonwyatt.com/search/parser.asp?ID=22734Since November 3, 2009, sponsors of Nova Scotia-registered defined benefit pension plans have been able to amortize solvency deficits over 10 years instead of the current five, following an amendment of the Pension Benefit Regulation by the Ministry of Labor and Workforce Development. [Canada - English]http://www.watsonwyatt.com/search/parser.asp?ID=22808As a result of legislation that was passed by Parliament on October 24, 2009, Peruvian workers above a fixed age who have been unemployed for 12 consecutive months will be eligible for early retirement effective January 2010. [Peru]http://www.watsonwyatt.com/search/parser.asp?ID=22816Senior executives are sharing the pain of the recession felt by shareholders and other employees, with typically only finance directors receiving pay increases, according to Watson Wyatt's 2009 Executive Reward Survey. [Europe]http://www.watsonwyatt.com/search/parser.asp?ID=22723Chief executive officers at the nation’s largest companies saw the value of their company stock ownership plunge last year as the U.S. equities market declined, according to Watson Wyatt’s 2009/2010 Report on Executive Pay. [United States]http://www.watsonwyatt.com/search/parser.asp?ID=22814WASHINGTON, D.C., November XX, 2009 —Sponsors of hybrid pension plans can take some comfort in the relief issued by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) last week, which provides some employers with a one-year reprieve to comply with forthcoming interest rate rules. A survey by Watson Wyatt, a leading global consulting firm, found that a majority of hybrid plan sponsors say clarifying what defines a permissible rate of interest is a top priority for them. [United States]http://www.watsonwyatt.com/search/parser.asp?ID=22707