HUNGARY - Hungarian stocks dropped the most in the world, leading the benchmark BUX stock index to the steepest decline in more than two months on concern regarding the government's pension plans, a trader said.

US - The US Government is to update the definition of "fiduciary" to cover any person who provides investment advice to plans for a fee.

US - The US Department of Labor has sued four investment companies for losing hundreds of millions of dollars through investments with convicted fraudster Bernard Madoff.

State Street Global Advisors is to acquire Bank of Ireland Asset Management in a €57m (£50m) deal.

IRELAND/US - State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) is to acquire Bank of Ireland Asset Management (BIAM) in a €57m ($79m) deal.

GLOBAL - Investment fund assets worldwide increased by 3% to €17.47trn ($24trn) at the end of the second quarter of 2010, research shows.

BULGARIA - Bulgaria has raised obligatory contributions paid by employers and workers to the state pension fund by 1.8 percentage points to cover the widening budget deficit.

US - Lockheed Martin is to increase its pension contributions to $2.2bn, its third quarter results show.

GLOBAL - For the second year in a row, Dutch retirement systems came first in a global pension index comparing private and public pension schemes based on adequacy, sustainability and integrity.

European Union governments have reached an agreement on the Alternative Investment Fund Managers directive.