KYRGYZ - The Asian republic of Kyrgyz will be drawing up a comprehensive reform of its pension system and increasing its pensions by 10% in 2007.

GLOBAL - The number of institutional investors using US ETFs or HOLDRS rose 27% in the last year, according to a report issued by Deborah Fuhr, executive director of investment strategies at Morgan Stanley.

US - Divesting from Sudan cost the Illinois Teachers' Retirement System US$1.78m, excluding lost opportunity costs from private equity, in the first half of 2006, Global Pensions can exclusively reveal.

MALAYSIA - Five members of the Employees Provident Fund have been jailed for making fraudulent withdrawals from the fund.

ASIA - AXA Real Estate Investment Managers (AXA REIM) has opened an office in Tokyo, to be headed up by former Babcock & Brown director Tomiji Hasegawa.

GLOBAL - Man Investments grew its institutional funds under management by US$2.7bn to $22.2bn in the half year ended 30 September 2006, while overall assets grew US$6.9bn.

GLOBAL - Pension funds must put more pressure on investment managers to improve transparency in commission recapture and clarify much of the confusion surrounding unbundling.

SCHEMES should adopt an active approach to commodity investment to boost returns, Investec Asset Management says.

THE STERN review makes clear pension schemes have a fiduciary duty to consider climate change when making investment decisions, Insight Investment says.

STAFF at manufacturer Lister Trade Frames can look forward to subsidised medical costs after a healthcare cash plan was added to their employee benefits package.