DEFINED contribution schemes are increasingly using ethical funds as default options, F&C Asset Management claims.

The Pensions Regulator has been urged to publish detailed case studies on scheme abandonment amid growing concern its intervention is cheaper for trustees than challenging sponsors.

EMPLOYERS and trade unions must do more to promote better pension fund governance and the role of active trusteeship, chancellor Gordon Brown's right-hand man warns.

NEARLY half of UK second home owners have invested in overseas property as part of their pension plan, research shows.

ITALY - Romano Prodi's coalition government is to meet union leaders and Confindustira, the employers' association, to discuss the January pension reforms on March 22.

Eight out of 10 employees work almost an extra day a month in unpaid overtime, a new survey claims.

Brewer Greene King has launched a campaign to encourage its 16,000 staff to give up smoking before it is banned in indoor public spaces in July.

Tax chiefs are being urged to redefine lifetime allowance tests which are putting disproportionate administrative burdens on pension schemes.

ASSETS under management at Franklin Templeton Investments rose by 16.5pc to $564.7bn (£291.35bn) during 2006, preliminary results reveal.

THE £3.6BN LONDON Pensions Fund Authority has hired Vanessa James as its new investment director.