CANADA - Canada's three largest pension funds have endorsed a new action plan to help Toronto evolve into a global hub for the retirement financial sector.

GLOBAL - More than half of pension funds in Europe and the Americas have implemented some sort of liability driven investment (LDI) strategy in their portfolios, a poll by fiduciary manager SEI found.

UK - The Bank of England would like to see more uptake of index linked gilts by institutional investors, but appetite for the paper does not seem to be there.

UK - Uncertainty in inflation assumptions may have led FTSE 350 companies to collectively overstate or understate their pension liabilities by as much as £40bn (US$59.4bn), according to Mercer.

IRELAND - The head of the Irish government Brian Cowen yesterday said he would ensure those depending on the state pension would "not be adversely affected" by budget cuts in December.

EUROPE - The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) has launched a new programme to help pension funds understand water-related investment risks.

EUROPE - European fund managers broke with global trends and switched into defensive stocks in recent weeks, according to Bank of America's (BofA) latest fund manager survey.

US - The Maryland State Retirement and Pension System has issued a request for information for specialist private equity and real estate consultants.

FRANCE - The Fonds de Réserve pour les Retraites (FRR) has hired six firms to run a combined €4bn (US$5.9bn) in inflation-linked bond mandates.

AUSTRALIA - Australian superannuation provider AMP will increase the pension contributions it pays for its employees to 12% from the mandatory 9% by 2014.