US - The Operating Engineers Local 324 Pension Fund has sued Fifth Third Bank to recover plan losses estimated at more than $20m arising from the mismanagement of the sale of some of the fund's property.

French technology services group Atos Origin is to replace its main defined benefit pension schemes in the UK with defined contribution arrangements.

Wealth decumulation and product design will dominate the pensions technology landscape this year, Exaxe predicts.

Around a third of small companies may abandon final salary schemes in favour of personal accounts, the Association of Consulting Actuaries warns.

The Korea Teachers' Pension Fund has awarded Won500bn (£270bn) in overseas equity mandates to Goldman Sachs and ING.

GLOBAL - Mercer has added six people to its global responsible investment (RI) team.

UK - Legal and General reported strong performance figures for 2007 but admitted it is struggling on Continental Europe.

The potential impact of personal accounts on workplace pensions must not be under-estimated, the National Association of Pension Funds warns.

Trustees have been warned to check their insurance cover as some policies may not cover all the risks they now face.

KEY industry concerns were left unaddressed by the second reading of the Pensions Bill, Fidelity International says.