Britain’s leading blue-chip retirement schemes could be faced with a £15 billion funding shortfall as a direct result of the rout in share markets yesterday, according to a leading pensions expert.

Rashpal Bhabra, head of corporate consulting for Watson Wyatt, a pensions consultant, told The Times last night that the assets of FTSE 100 final-salary pension schemes would have fallen by about £17 billion as equity markets dived yesterday. He said that huge drops in the stock market over the past five days could be responsible for wiping about £50 billion off the value of pension scheme assets in only a week.

Heavy exposure to equity investments could have created a funding gap in British pensions of almost £24 billion, he said.

The reversal of fortunes of the pensions industry, whose assets briefly went into surplus in June last year, looks set to pile the pressure on companies to consider closing final-salary schemes, which offer a more stable payout based on a worker’s salary at retirement. Fund trustees could also put pressure on companies to inject more capital.

“I think from a company perspective, they need to start planning. Generating cash is going to be difficult,” Mr Bhabra said. “A lot of schemes are going to be in deficit. There’s going to be pressure from trustees to get funding. If companies are pressed for cash, shutting the scheme is one option.”

Companies have been closing final-salary schemes in droves in the past five years. The risk and cost of running these schemes rests largely with the employer. Final-salary schemes are often replaced by defined contribution, or “money purchase” schemes, where the risks are borne more substantially by employees.

Watson Wyatt reckons that FTSE blue-chip final-salary schemes remain in surplus – about £30 billion before yesterday’s slide. However, if markets continue their nose dive, the pressure on their funding position can only get worse.

Mercer, a rival consultant, said that rising yields on bond investments would have offset some of the equity movements. However, it calculated that the turbulence yesterday would have pushed schemes from a £2 billion surplus at the end of last month into a deficit of about £3 billion.

Aon, the pensions consultant, said yesterday that about £45 billion had been wiped off the value of UK final-salary schemes since Monday.

Marcus Hurd, of Aon, said: “This week has been disastrous.”

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