US - Verizon retirees have sued the telephone company alleging they had been illegally transferred and, as a result penalized, to the pension plans sponsored by Idearc, a now bankrupt company.

GLOBAL - The majority of institutional investors around the world will not renew commitments to existing private equity managers in 2010, a survey by Coller Capital revealed.

GERMANY - Deutsche Bank has set up a pension asset-pooling vehicle in Luxembourg aimed at its employees' pension assets and at other companies' funds.

US - A group of AK Steel retirees will receive over US$51m as a compensation for having been paid less than the full accrued benefit due to them under the AK Steel Pension Plan.

SWEDEN - Insurer AMF has decided to grant an increase of interest payments to its defined contribution members from 8% to 12% following positive investment results.

EUROPE - The investment fund market in Europe grew by 7.2% in the third quarter and had €6.8trn (US$10.3trn) under management at the end of September, the latest quarterly data by the European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA) revealed.

EUROPE - The European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA) has hired consultant McKinsey to formulate proposals aimed at the European Commission on fund distribution and long-term savings.

US - More than half of chief financial officers surveyed by Towers Perrin are concerned about defined benefit pension plan volatility.

IRELAND - Aviva Investors is set to shut down most of its Irish operations, leaving only a service centre in Dublin.

AUSTRALIA - Increasing the superannuation guarantee (SG) from the mandatory 9% to 12% will reduce the payments under the age pension, a government pension payment, by 2.3%, a report by AMP and NATSEM has claimed.