UK corporate pension gap increases

The UK corporate pension gap has now widened to 220 billion pounds (about $334 billion trillion), according to data released by Société Générale and UBS on 17th, which would have forced the country's companies to opt to slash dividends. According to two institutions, many large UK companies, including BT, British Airways and BAE Systems, the arms maker, have been hampered by the use of existing funds for operations.　　Outside the UK, only the German steel maker ThyssenKrupp is the similarly big European conglomerate. The bank and UBS speculate that British companies will carry out the biggest dividend-cutting in Europe since 12, with enough cash to support their pension payments capacity. BT, Britain's largest telephone company, which needed to pay pensions for up to 340,000 working and retired employees last week, has announced a huge cut in its dividend by 89%. (Gao Jian)