A workplace quality mark should be awarded if firms offer better benefits than the government's proposed personal accounts, the National Asso-ciation of Pension Funds says.

US/EUROPE - The California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) is to invest US$200m (€157m) in the Governance for Owners Group's (GO) European Focus Fund, which invests in a small number of under-performing quoted companies across Europe.

GERMANY - Barclays Global Investors (BGI) has appointed Andreas Fehrenbach country head Germany for their iShares product.

THE SCHRODER Exempt Property Unit Trust (SEPUT) has acquired Chancery Exchange in London from Macquarie Global Property Advisors for £58.75m.

Upstairs-downstairs pensions culture persists; Nasdaq set to play waiting game for LSE; Banks shed 3000 staff; FSA warns brokers about conflicts of interest

GLOBAL - DB pension buy-outs are an extreme solution, and companies should address each of their risks individually as some could be beneficial to keep, said Anthony Ashton, an investment consultant with Hewitt.

AOIFINN DEVITT has set up Clontarf Capital to advise pension schemes on non-traditional asset classes such as hedge funds, private equity, commodities and real-estate.

THE NUMBER of fund mangers offering schemes an unconstrained investment approach has doubled in the last two years, Hewitt Associates claims.

THE PENSIONS Regulator has released a further defined benefit scheme funding module of the trustee toolkit

US - San Diego-based equity boutique Nicholas-Applegate Capital Management has four new funded products in the incubator which represent an extension of its long-only offering.