Proposed new accounting standards that could add about £120bn (€153bn) to the liabilities of the largest UK pension schemes have an "air of inevitability" to them, according to speakers at Financial News' European Pensions and Savings Summit.

The UK's Accounting Standards Board first mooted the idea in February of changing the primary accounting tool used to value pensions liabilities on company balance sheets, moving it to a standard known as the 'risk-free rate'.