WELSH RARE BIT: BILINGUAL PENSION PUSH

"Tawelwch meddwl ynglyn a'ch pensiwn" might look like a tongue twister or perhaps even an insult, but to Welsh speakers it means "feel good about your pension." Martin Briggs, an independent financial adviser based in Wales, has launched a bilingual marketing campaign to attract Welsh corporate clients. Because while the Welsh might not yet feel good about their pensions, they certainly feel good about being Welsh. Although only about 12% of the country's 2 million people speaks Welsh, a recent government survey showed more than 80% of them are proud of the Welsh language and their national identity, says Mr. Briggs. It might not be Britain's Lone Star state, but Wales is rapidly rediscovering its national identity and recently set up its own national assembly. All government documents have to be printed in both English and Welsh, and even utility bills are in both languages. Mr. Briggs is not Welsh, but has lived in Wales for 20 years and is unashamedly targeting the Welsh as a specific interest group for the launch of group and individual pension plans. About 88% of employers in Wales don't have a pension scheme for their staff. Most Welsh companies are small and midsize enterprises that will face a financial struggle in providing their staff with pension plans when Britain's "stakeholder pensions" reform makes it obligatory, Mr. Briggs says. So Mr. Briggs has established the Welsh Pensions Group to provide employers with staff pension plans and enable businesses to negotiate better terms than they could have gotten on their own. So far he has brought a handful of companies with assets totaling about $16.5 million under the WPG umbrella. He hopes to make that total grow to around $835 million by April 2002, when the law takes effect. By the way, in case you were wondering, the slogan is pronounced "talech methil inglin ak penshun." Crain News Service