LONDON (Reuters) – Investment manager Columbia Threadneedle had several conversations with the Bank of England over recent gilt market moves, a portfolio manager looking after pension fund clients told Reuters.
The firm has a “fiduciary duty” to its clients to alert the central bank to problems for pension schemes caused by a sharp rise in yields in recent days, said Simon Bentley, head of solutions (UK) client portfolio manager at Columbia Threadneedle Investments.
The Bank of England said earlier on Wednesday it would buy as many long-dated government bonds as needed between now and Oct. 14 to stabilise financial markets, amid a slump in British gilt prices following a government fiscal statement last Friday.
Pension schemes were forced to sell gilts after they found it hard to meet emergency demands for collateral on under-water gilt derivatives positions from so-called liability-driven investment funds such as those managed by Columbia Threadneedle.
(Reporting by Carolyn Cohn; Editing by David Goodman and Gareth Jones)
