In practice the derivation of discount rates might reflect liability matching
considerations built into the scheme‘s investment strategy, for example, broadly
matching with bonds the near-term cash flows for some or all of the pensioners. The
investment risk in pension funds has historically been greater than in insurance
portfolios and returns submitted to the Regulator by pension schemes suggest median
levels of expected out-performance included in typical discount rates to be of the order
of 100-150 bps in excess of gilts (‗gilts +‘ is just a way of re-expressing the discount
rates, their derivation may have no connection with gilts). Consequently, pension
actuaries may be spending less time than life insurance actuaries thinking about what
might to them be second order adjustments for the term structure, credit risk (except
sponsor‘s own credit risk) and illiquidity premiums.