The cover ratio has fallen from 115.6% (end-2014) to approximately 114%.
The investment performance would actually have been sufficient to maintain the cover ratio at more or less its previous level.
However, in view of the low-interest environment and further increases in life expectancy – on average, a 65-year-old man can now expect to live for a further 19.8 years, or 0.8 years more than five years ago – the Board of Trustees has decided to increase the provision for the planned reduction in the actuarial interest rate from 3.0% to 2.5%, and the transition from the actuarial to the generational method of calculation, to its maximum.