Check out the Global Pensions Awards 2010 Supplement, which complements this month's edition of the magazine. See photos of the ceremony held at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London on March 2, and read exclusive interviews with the winners.

IRELAND - Bank of Ireland's (BoI) pension deficit hit record negative levels at the end of 2009, when it reached €1.6bn (US$2.1bn), the bank's preliminary results for the nine months up to December 31 revealed.

NETHERLANDS - Dutch pensions are set to rise by 0.4% on average to correct for wage and price increases, the latest quarterly bulletin by De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) revealed.

FRANCE - The Fonds de réserve pour les retraites (FRR) has appointed Philippe Aurain as chief investment officer.

CANADA - New Democrat member of Canadian Parliament John Rafferty tabled a bill which would grant ‘secured' status to pension funds during bankruptcy proceedings and restructuring.

EUROPE - Reporting choices available to European banks under accounting rules can give investors a misleading view of the impact pension plans have on the banks' capital, a report by Moody's Investor Services revealed.

US - The boss of the company responsible for managing the pension assets of General Motors (GM) has quit, the US car manufacturer has said.

US - Fitch Ratings has downgraded Illinois general obligation (GO) taxable bonds to A- from A over concerns about the state's unfunded pension liabilities and fiscal gap.

NETHERLANDS - Dutch pension funds returned 14.6% in 2009 on the back of strong equities performance, data by State Street Investment Analytics revealed.

SWEDEN/ISRAEL - Four of the buffer funds in the Swedish pay-as-you-go pension system have cut their ties with an Israeli defense company on ethical grounds.