Stephen Green, the chairman of HSBC, has today stepped forward to suggest that the UK pension industry is on the edge of a precipice. He has highlighted the "perfect storm" which has seen investment returns declining and a significant reduction in pension contributions when in perfect world these should be increasing. At the end of the day many of those approaching retirement age in the next decade will see their pension pots severely impacted by the events of the last 12 months and could be plunged into retirement poverty.

This is just the latest in a long line of negative comments and negative headlines with regards to the UK pension industry which has also seen the demise of final salary schemes, annuity rates under pressure and more and more pensioners struggling to survive on their pension funds alone. The situation is almost certain to get worse over the next couple of years with many pension funds having been decimated by the events of the last 12 months with little assistance forthcoming from the UK government.

All in all we have seen taxation receipts from pension fund income and pension fund assets increase over the last decade, creating a potential time-bomb which could go off over the next decade.

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