According to a report in the trade press, Ireland's pensions regulator says that several big UK pension funds are moving to the country to avoid domestic pension protection compliance.

Investment and Pensions Europe cites the Irish Pension Board’s Jerry Moriarty as saying that major UK schemes are looking to circumvent paying into the British Pensions Protection Fund by moving to the Irish Republic.

However, Mr Moriarty warned that while some companies may find moving their UK schemes offshore to be cheaper, they will still need to comply with different regulations applying in Ireland, and possibly face higher funding requirements.

IPE’s report also pointed to an emerging consensus that pan-European pensions schemes will ultimately come to fruition, but that such a development is not imminent.