A GROUP comprising the major providers of enhanced and impaired annuities has agreed on a common quotation request form in a bid to simplify and speed up the application process.

MARKS & Spencer is set to put £500m into its pension scheme as part of a deal with trustees to eliminate a deficit in the fund.

UK - Amicus have accused WH Smith of recouping its 6% Christmas trading shortfall from employees' pensions and wages.

US - The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) has become trustee of four Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical pension plans, which have a combined deficit of US$9.5m.

THE ACCOUNTING Standards Board has published a set of guidelines designed to boost transparency of pension scheme reporting in company accounts.

UK - The NAPF has questioned whether some of the principles outlined by Paul Myners in his 2001 review of investor practices are still relevant.

SPAIN - The Spanish government has paid out €429.7m to more than eight million pensioners to compensate for the unforeseen rise in inflation in 2006.

THE UNIVERSITIES Superannuation Scheme has appointed ABN Amro Mellon Global Securities Services for a £5bn mandate.

ARLINGTON Securities has launched a fund of UK property funds to give schemes geographic and sector diversity with a single investment.

THE NATIONAL Association of Pension Funds has formally launched a review to assess the extent to which institutional investors have adopted the Myners principles in their investment decision-making.