As the UK insurance giant Aviva updated analysts on its financials yesterday, one saving that really caught the eye was a £1.3bn reduction in its pensions bill in just nine months. The sums include a reduction in its life expectancy predictions of around £300m - something Aviva's staff might find a little worrying...

Thankfully for all those hardworking employees, there is a something of a technical reason behind all this. Aviva Group just wanted to bring its life expectancy assumption into line with those used by the trustees of its main UK retirement fund.