GLOBAL - The Enhanced Analytics Initiative (EAI) has grown to twenty-one members representing €1.1trn in assets under management since its inception two years ago.

SWEDEN - The Premium Pension Authority (PPM) has hired Aon Consulting to further develop its online fund selection tool "Lotsen", which has been labelled a failure by some due to low usage by members since inception.

UK/US - Aon has proposed cuts to both its UK and US defined benefit plans worth US$60m annually, with UK members facing the termination of future salary and service benefits.

UK - Mellon Transition Management Services (MTMS) group has completed a transition management mandate for the North Yorkshire Country Council Pension Fund's £680m global equity portfolio, which threw out its customised benchmark in the process.

GLOBAL - Consultants have been left behind in the move by large pension plans to portable alpha strategies, said Bruce Brittain, executive vice of president product management at PIMCO.

Advisory firm sells for $553m; Morgan Stanley buys stake in Lansdowne; St James's boosted by pension changes; Treasury announces massive reform on ISAs

RISKMETRICS GROUP is set to buy corporate governance firm Institutional Shareholder Services in a bid to expand beyond its core financial risk management business.

AUSTRALIA - The Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) has welcomed the government's new Anti-Money Laundering/Counter Terrorist Financing (AML/CTF) legislation.

US - The recently passed Pension Protection Act will push US companies towards strategies that better hedge their long-term pension liabilities, according to Watson Wyatt Investment Consulting.

EUROPE - Swisscanto has launched its (LU) SICAV 2 Bond Absolute Return (CHF and €) bond funds, which aim to achieve positive yields of 1.5% (CHF) and 2% (EUR) above their respective money market yields over a rolling time horizon of three years.