IMPERIAL COLLEGE's TANAKA Business School has launched a degree course in actuarial finance that it claims will provide graduates with the tools necessary to solve tomorrows pensions challenges.

Tax simplification boosts pension sales; Corporate cash balances rise on fears of economic slowdown; Slough Estates to become REIT

EUROPE - Citigroup has launched a European Insurance and Pension Structured Solutions group (IPSS) to be based in London.

CITIGROUP has established a European insurance and pension structured solutions group - a venture across its fixed income, equities and banking divisions.

SWEDEN - Aon Consulting Sweden has announced both the acquisition of local company, Formansoptimering AB, and the recruitment of 12 new consultants in a bid to provide a pensions service more specifically tailored to the local market's needs.

KOREA - Government plans to consolidate the imposition and collection of its four public insurance systems, including pensions, should see a rise in pension contributions by the self employed.

LEADING fund manager Hermes Pension Management - the asset management arm of the BT Pension Scheme - has revealed a £16.6m blackhole in its final salary pension scheme.

ITALY - The retirement age can be raised as long as the complementary pensions sector is launched immediately, said Pier Paolo Baretta, secretary general, CISL, Italian Confederation of Workers' Trade Unions.

BRITAIN'S top executives saw their salaries rise by an average of 6pc last year, a report from PricewaterhouseCoopers reveals.

US - The amount of money paid out by the Pension Benefits Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) has jumped from US$900m in fiscal year 2000 to $3.7bn in FY2005.