EUROPE - The European Central Bank lifted interest rates for the first time in almost three years in a bid to stem inflation.

DENMARK/PORTUGAL - Denmark's second-biggest pension fund said it may snap up Portuguese bonds if they keep falling after the country became the third euro member to seek a bailout since Greece's fiscal woes triggered the sovereign debt crisis.

ASIA - Northern Trust has appointed Margaret Law as head of client services for its asset servicing business in North Asia (ex-China).

US - A $6.5bn increase in New York City's pension costs was largely due to poor market performance rather than overly generous benefits, a study has found.

US - The Massachusetts state pension fund will begin bypassing middlemen by directly investing as much as $500m in hedge funds.

US - The California State Teachers' Retirement System (CalSTRS) and the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) have begun working with an advisory panel of corporate governance experts to help find untapped talent to serve on their corporate...

US - Vanguard has launched a new service to advise defined benefit scheme members ahead of anticipated widespread pension plans closures.

US - J.P. Morgan Worldwide Securities Services has been selected by the Maine Public Employees Retirement System (MainePERS) to provide custody and securities services for the State's $10.5bn in assets.

SWITZERLAND - The 30 largest listed Swiss companies have increased their pension scheme funding levels up to 88%, but are still far short of the fully-funded status they enjoyed before the financial crisis, research from Towers Watson shows.

GLOBAL - Emerging market debt remains attractive in comparison to G7 government bonds despite inflationary concerns and unrest in the Middle East, Aberdeen Asset Management believes.