CANADA - The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec has appointed Oliver Fratzscher as strategic advisor to the chief investment officer and the president and chief executive officer.

AUSTRALIA - Common data standards for the superannuation industry should be legally enforceable through the establishment of a "Super Council", Cooper review chairman Jeremy Cooper says.

CANADA - Ottawa's unfunded pension obligations are C$65bn ($64bn) higher than previously calculated, a report shows.

NORWAY - Norway's Finance Ministry issued a new formal mandate for the management of the Government Pension Fund Global, the world's second-largest sovereign wealth fund.

EUROPE - The long-anticipated Alternative Investment Fund Managers (AIFM) Directive has been passed into law following a plenary vote of the European Parliament.

CANADA - The Canada Pension Plan reported a 6.6% return on its investments in Q2 on the back of strong performance by global equities.

US - The California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) has invested $500m into a new internally managed strategy for investing in environmentally friendly companies.

EUROPE - The global real estate crisis has created investment opportunities for pension funds and other institutional investors, Mercer believes.

HUNGARY - Hungary would use excess budget income from private pension portfolios returning to the state to reduce government debt, said Gyorgy Naszvadi, a state secretary in the Economy Ministry.

US - California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) saw its investments rise 13.3% in the year to June, beating its estimated return by almost two percentage points.