It is a difficult time to be a pension fund manager. Few asset classes are generating strong performance, complicating asset allocation decisions to the point of paralysing investors.

Paul Jayasingha, senior investment consultant at Towers Watson, said: "Volatile markets and heightened risk awareness continue to make asset allocation very challenging as companies and trustees balance such priorities as long- term de-risking, short-term market opportunities, rebalancing and maintaining a strategic asset-allocation mix."