Investment

UK - Payden & Rygel Global has launched a Sterling Reserve Fund in a bid to provide institutional investors with better yields than those available from bank deposits and money market funds.

The National Association of Pension Funds has urged the government not to damage the UK's savings culture by back peddling on pension reforms.

The Pensions Regulator has issued guidance for trustees on assessing, monitoring and taking action on issues relating to their employer covenant.

Jupiter's IPO has been more than 2.5 times oversubscribed after a strong take-up from both institutional and retail investors.

US/UK - Financial legislation pending in the US threatens to overwhelm, emasculate, and undermine independence of the Securities & Exchange Commission, according to the watchdog's former chairman.

Defined contribution scheme members have seen annual pension income plummet by more than £1000 a year as a result of stock market falls since the beginning of May, Aon Consulting research reveals.

PIMCO has brought its new active equity strategy to the UK with the launch of the PIMCO EqS Pathfinder Fund and the PIMCO EqS Pathfinder Europe Fund.

UK - Resolution Group, the consolidation vehicle which bought Friends Provident last year, is in talks to buy AXA UK's annuity, protection and group pensions business for £2.75bn (US$4bn).

BP is considering plans to defer payment of its next dividend to shareholders by placing the money in an escrow account until the full scale of the company's liabilities from the Gulf of Mexico disaster can be determined, sources claim.

US - The credit ratings agency Fitch has warned that the potential for steep pension funding increases over the next two to three years could be crippling for US sponsors with underfunded plans.