A toxic combination of leverage, poor regulation and a reckless UK government budget drove the extraordinary blow-up of the pension system in late September that required a Bank of England bailout, witnesses told a parliamentary hearing on 23 November

The first hearing held by the UK Work and Pensions Committee looked into the debacle that required the Bank of England's rescue of pension funds by buying long-dated bonds to stem market volatility in the £1tn invested in strategies called liability-driven investment.