ITALY - Italian pensions watchdog Commissione di Vigilanza sui Fondi Pensione (Covip) has called for a "modernisation" of the rules regulating the investments pension funds are allowed to make.

GLOBAL - BlackRock's net new business totalled US$82bn in the fourth quarter of 2009, with pension funds and other institutional investors accounting for 60% of it.

GLOBAL - Nissan Motors has appointed Mercer as global retirement consultant in a bid to strengthen its pensions governance structures.

US - President Barack Obama's sweeping reforms to the banking industry proposed yesterday were generally welcomed by global asset management figures, but some warned they may cause short-term losses for pension funds, large holders of US bank shares....

CANADA - The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec has partnered with investor Capital régional et coopératif Desjardins (CRCD) to invest a total of C$600m (US$573m) between the two in small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs).

US - The City of Westland Police & Fire Retirement System filed a class action lawsuit against Alcon, Novartis and Nestlé, alleging that Novartis' recent public offer for Alcon discriminated minority shareholders.

MEXICO - Seven Mexican pension funds have invested a total of MXN3.42bn (US$268.6m) in the Macquarie Mexican Infrastructure Fund (MMIF), representing 66% of the fund's total assets under management.

US - The underfunded pension plans of eight companies with a combined US$236.3m in assets have fallen into the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation in less than a month.

SPAIN - Assets under management (AUM) of pension funds falling under the individual system category increased by 6.9% in 2009 to €51.6bn (US$74.8bn) largely due to positive investment returns, data from research company VDOS Stochastics revealed.

DENMARK - Danish pension fund ATP is set to select an information technology provider for its internal IT management and back office works at the end of February, the fund's CIO Per Rasmussen has confirmed.