| A rule introduced as part of the 1995 Pensions Act, coming into force in 1997, in the wake of the Maxwell pensions scandal that was intended to ensure that company pensions funds always held enough assets to meet their liabilities (i.e. pensions to retired members of the scheme). The legislation used the yield from long-term gilts as the yardstick by which a pension funds liabilities were measured and to stay within the rules, funds felt obliged to buy these long-term bonds, with the result that their price rose sharply. The rule was subsequently reviewed.
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