Government faces High Court review on lost pensions; Private equity firms planning break-up of Marsh & McLennan; ABN chairman retires from City broking; Back Liffe or lose it, City told

GERMANY - Asset management firm Activest Investmentgesellschaft is to be re-branded under Pioneer Investments.

US - AK Steel is to make a US$75m early contribution to its pension trust fund, bringing the total early contributions up to US$360m over the last two years.

SOCIÉTÉ GÉNÉRALE Asset Management UK has appointed Jean-Baptiste Segard as its chief executive as part of a major overhaul of its senior management.

THE £626M Cardiff & Vale of Glamorgan Pension Fund is reviewing its Asia Pacific ex-Japan equities and Japanese equities briefs after four years with Schroders.

ITALY - The government and social partners have signed an agreement that will see around €5bn from company final indemnity funds transferred to the national institute of social welfare (INPS) as of next year.

CHINA - The former commissioner of the National Bureau of Statistics of China (NBS), Qiu Xiaohua, has reportedly been accused of using Shanghai's state pension fund to lend CNY50m (US$6.3m) to his lover.

COST alone cannot be the decisive factor in deciding which of the proposed models for delivering the government's new personal accounts is selected, claim insurers.

LONDON COUNCILS could save £34m a year by radically reforming their pension arrangements, a study by the Audit Commission has found.

LESS THAN half of people of working age expect an occupational pension scheme to be among their main source of income in retirement, new research reveals.