UK - The West Sussex County Council pension fund has awarded a £567m (US$798m) investment mandate to UBS.

US - Plan sponsors are focussing on the most easily definable risks at the expense of those more difficult to model and measure, a study by MetLife has found.

GLOBAL - Watson Wyatt has appointed eVestment Alliance (eA) to provide it with investment manager research on Europe and the Far East.

SWITZERLAND - Swiss pension funds lost 6.8% during the fourth quarter of 2008 in the largest quarterly drop since 2000, Credit Suisse research reveals.

THE £8m Christ's Hospital Pension Scheme has appointed Michael Kirk & Partners to provide third-party administration and consultancy services.

PENSIONS buyout business in 2009 will match 2008 levels of around £8bn in 2009, Lane Clark & Peacock research reveals.

UK - Pensions buyout business in 2009 will match 2008 levels of around £8bn (US$11.3bn) in 2009, Lane Clark & Peacock (LCP) research reveals.

Including: US - New Jersey mulls deferred pension payments; NORWAY - Government to tap oil fund to beat recession; AUSTRALIA - Super funds hit by market turmoil

US - The California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) has appointed Anne Simpson as senior portfolio manager for corporate governance.

Corus is to close the defined benefit British Steel Pension Scheme to new members.