Record pension hole for world's biggest firms

LONDON (Reuters) - The financial crisis saddled the world's 100 largest companies with a record 220 billion euro (199 billion pounds) pension shortfall at end-September, up from 20 billion at the end of 2007, a study released on Monday said.

The survey, compiled by consulting actuaries Lane Clark & Peacock LCP.L, found that the average pension deficit for companies in the FTSE Global 100 index increased by 1.6 billion euros during 2008.

The report highlighted Royal Dutch Shell(RDSa.L), IBM (IBM.N) and General Electric (GE.N), which each saw deficit increases of more than 15 billion euros, contrasting with surpluses reported in 2007.

LCP said that asset price gains during 2009 stemming from recovering markets had not compensated for falling corporate bond yields which are used to measure pension liabilities in company accounts.

(Reporting by Chris Vellacott; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)

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