Associated British Foods (ABF) has announced it will offer its pension scheme members flexible target date funds as the default defined contribution (DC) investment option.

The funds will be administered by AllianceBernstein.

The Associated British Foods pension scheme has over 8,000 defined contribution members and around £110m of existing assets under management.

AllianceBernstein said its Dynamic Asset Allocation process sought to de-risk the portfolio during times of extreme market conditions by making short-term adjustments to the asset allocation.

ABF's auto-enrolment staging date for more than 40,000 staff is 1 February 2013. Pensions director Colin Hately said: "In advance of auto-enrolment, we have undertaken a review of our pension offering to ensure that we continue to provide the best possible solution for our colleagues.

"The appointment of Alliance Bernstein as the default fund provider and the introduction of flexible target date funds are critical components of this project."

Alliance Bernstein head of DC client relations Tim Banks said: "We are absolutely delighted to be working with Associated British Foods to provide pension provision for their staff. Our solution combines greater investment sophistication, a robust governance framework and low cost, while still remaining easy for members to understand. We very much look forward to working with the trustees in delivering good outcomes for the members."

First published 23.10.2012

azeevalkink@wilmington.co.uk