UK Finance News

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Ansell Limited (ANN.AX), a global leader in protection solutions, today announced it has entered into a multi-year agreement with Koreca Industries. Koreca Industries is based in Daegu and is a leading hand protection specialist in Korea.

As a part of this agreement, Ansell has appointed Koreca Industries its exclusive distributor of Industrial and New Verticals personal protective equipment (PPE) products in the Republic of Korea. Furthermore, Ansell has an option to make equity investments in Koreca Industries in stages over several years.

Magnus Nicolin, CEO of Ansell Limited commented

“By partnering with Koreca Industries, Ansell will significantly strengthen its presence in Korea in the PPE market. This move is well aligned with our previously communicated ambition to expand globally in fast-growing markets”.

Ansell Limited
Ansell is a world leader in providing superior health and safety protection solutions that enhance human well being. With operations in the North America, Latin America, EMEA and Asia, Ansell employs more than 10,000 people worldwide and holds leading positions in the industrial and medical gloves market, as well as in the sexual health and well being category worldwide. Ansell operates in four main business segments: Medical Solutions, Industrial Solutions, New Verticals, and Sexual Wellness. Information on Ansell and its products can be found at www.ansell.com.

Concern for Christmas on credit cards

Think Money, a leading financial solutions company, has urged would-be borrowers to consider how they’d pay everything back should they turn to credit in the near future.

With the festive season fast approaching, many people will be covering the cost of Christmas on credit cards, store cards and other forms of credit. It can be a quick and convenient way of spreading the cost of spending at this time of year – and with the base rate at an all-time low, may be an attractive option for some people.

However, there are concerns that borrowers without an adequate financial plan or a strict budget could have difficulties repaying what they owe.

An expert at Think Money commented:

“Financial planning is as important as it’s ever been – especially when it comes to borrowing money. Those of us who are managing well financially may be thinking about making a big purchase on credit – whether that’s home improvements, a new car or a holiday. That’s fine, just as long as those people have planned out a budget and are sure they can afford their repayments.

“Similarly, some people might be making a New Year’s resolution to get their finances in order. For some, that might involve taking out a debt consolidation loan to simplify their finances and set out a clear plan for repaying their debts. This can be a good way of managing debt, but borrowers still need to make sure their repayments fit in with the rest of their budget.”

Commenting on the Sunday Times Virgin Fast Track 100 announcement that TopCashBack.co.uk is Britain’s fifth fastest growing private company, Adam Bullock, Operations Manager, at TopCashBack.co.uk said:

“The whole team at TopCashBack is delighted and honoured to be named the fifth fastest growing private company in the UK. To be ranked above many household names is a fantastic achievement and a credit to all of the staff here at TopCashBack.

TopCashBack is the UK’s Number 1 Free Cashback Website
Over 3,200 merchants (retailers and product/service providers) pay a referral commission for purchases made on their websites via topcashback.co.uk; but rather than keep this commission, TopCashBack passes 100% straight back to the customer as ‘cashback’, and gives everyone a 1% bonus (at least) from its own pockets on top.

TopCashBack’s fundamental aim is to help all UK consumers save as much money as possible on their online shopping.

Established in 2005 TopCashBack has an ethos of ‘fair play’ and has gone from strength-to-strength with a membership in excess of one million.

Adam Bullock continues:

“The business has grown rapidly in Uttoxeter and Bolton over the last three years; so much so that six months ago we expanded into the capital and established an office in London. Since our incarnation six years ago we have been careful to ensure that we stick to our core values of providing the best cashback rates, excellent customer service and effective use of technology to create a streamlined operation.

“The most remarkable aspect of being listed in the Sunday Times Virgin Fast Track 100 for us is that, we see this as just the start of the growth curve. With less than two percent of the UK population signed up to save money through us, there’s no reason why this growth trend won’t continue as millions more consumers realise just how much they can save on their online shopping by using TopCashBack. With tomorrow being Mega Monday and everyone now getting into the full swing of their Christmas shopping, we hope many more shoppers take advantage of our free money-saving service.”

In the context of occupational, stakeholder, and group personal pension schemes, professional trustees are responsible for collecting contributions, investing assets, and paying out benefits according to the rules of the fund. Trustees have certain core duties, set out in law, which they must perform, and they also have discretionary powers to make decisions. As long as discretion is exercised reasonably and honestly, there will be some leeway as to how schemes are administered, always with the proviso that the trustee is never in breach of fiduciary duties, to administer the fund properly at all times.

Professional trustees therefore have a great deal of responsibility, and will also be subject to liability in the event of a pension wind up, where a trust is brought to an end by dividing up remaining assets among the beneficiaries, or members and their relatives as specified under the scheme, in accordance with the trust deed, or what might be described as the ‘constitution’ of the fund.

The guiding principle for independent and professional trustees is that they must act in the best interests of the beneficiaries, and this applies throughout the pension wind up also. Trustees might be personally liable for any losses caused to members of a pension fund if it is found that these were the result of a ‘breach of trust’ during the pension wind up. A breach of trust in this context would be where the trustee sold off assets s/he was not authorised to sell, or secured a company’s debt in such a way as to cause loss when that should have been foreseen. In this way, failing to act or acting carelessly in the administration of the wind up can also amount to a breach of trust.

The liability of independent trustees in the event of a pension wind up is described in law as ‘joint and several’. As such, it is possible to be liable for one trustee to be liable for the actions of another, if that trustee should have taken steps to know and understand what was happening. In this way the liability of trustees is set up so as to place the onus on each trustee to check for potential breaches of trust. If a trustee becomes aware of a breach of trust, even if s/he had nothing to do with brining it about, s/he will be potentially liable. This will be the case unless there is a personal liability protection in operation under the pension scheme.

Special care must be taken by trustees during the unusual event of a pension wind up as liability might arise out of failure to ensure the proper identification of assets through to taking all reasonable steps to ensure the process is completed as quickly as possible. The Pension Protection Fund, the pension regulator, expects a maximum of two years as a wind up period. In particular trustees will be liable throughout this time for keeping beneficiaries of the trust informed as to what is happening to their pensions.