NETHERLANDS - BNY Mellon Asset Servicing has been appointed by Stichting Rabobank Pensioenfonds (Rabobank Pension Fund) in the Netherlands to provide custody and other services for its $16.4bn of assets.

AUSTRALIA - QIC is to close its implemented manager-of-managers Australian equities product and its directly managed large cap Australian equities products because of lack of demand.

AUSTRALIA - Low income workers will receive a boost to their superannuation savings from July 2012 by having their contributions tax refunded.

US - The State Treasurer of Ohio has called on the attorney general to launch an investigation into whether members of the state's pension funds have been exploited by custodial banks conducting foreign currency exchanges.

EUROPE - Institutional investors in Europe rank interest rate risk as their biggest concern over the next 12 months, research by Allianz Global Investors shows.

US - Pennsylvania's Public School Employees Retirement System (PSERS) posted a 4.23% return for the quarter and an 18.09% return for the nine month fiscal year-to-date ended March 31, 2011.

GLOBAL - Aberdeen Asset Management has appointed Roberto Varandas to head up its global property development business.

US - S&P 1500 defined benefit pension deficits fell by just $8bn last year, despite employer contributions of $77bn and investment returns of $156bn, analysis by Mercer shows.

Karel Van Gutte has been named as secretary general of the Belgian Association of Pension Institutions (BAPI).

ASIA - Asian debt is replacing US Treasuries for institutional investors in the region, but developed market pension funds remain underexposed to the asset class, Baring Asset Management believes.