Employers call for access to pension funds; Osmond aims to ease pension portion of takeovers; FSA warns over longevity figures; Final salary provision costs more, study finds

UK - The PPF levy is a potential crippling additional cost to some pension schemes, according to the latest annual pension schemes administration survey by Capita Hartshead.

Professional Pensions has launched The Pension Scheme of the Year Awards 2007 in a bid to find the best pension funds and managers in Britain.

FIDELTY International is launching a new member communications programme to help companies boost take-up of defined contribution pension schemes.

Taxing schemes if they accidentally overpay a pension is "wacky and impractical", a leading lawyer claims.

UK - The Pensions Ombudsman (PO) and The Financial Ombudsman's Service (FOS) have been waiting in anticipation for the results of The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) Institutional Review amid speculations they will be merged or scrapped.

WATSON Wyatt has boosted its employer covenant business with the appointment of Grant Thornton restructuring expert Sean Weaver.

UK - Warwickshire Pension Fund has invested in property and a fund of hedge funds, after being "steered away" from private equity by its consultancy firm, Mercer.

CANADA - Regulations should be altered to encourage companies to continue offering defined benefit (DB) schemes, said Bank of Canada governor, David Dodge, yesterday.

CANADA - Hedge funds, real estate and fixed income dented la Caisse de dépôt et placement de Québec's otherwise above benchmark returns of 14.6% for 2006.