Legislation

A Court of Appeal ruling has made it "easier than ever" to enforce compulsory retirement despite government plans to scrap the default retirement age.

Trustees could be on the hook for liabilities up to 15 years after a buyout has occurred if they fail to take adequate insurance cover, lawyers warn.

Some 250 ex-employees of IBM are taking legal action against the company they claim "forced" them into early retirement to avoid taking massively reduced pension benefits.

US - Employers with defined benefit (DB) pension plans could receive up to $63bn in temporary pension funding relief as a result of new legislation, research by Towers Watson suggests.

AUSTRALIA - Prime Minister Julia Gillard said a re-elected Labor government will allow Australia's pension industry to offer a new standardised fund recommended by a government-commissioned review.

ITALY - The Italian government has raised the retirement age by three years as part of sweeping austerity measures.

UKRAINE - Ukraine has agreed to make tough changes to its pensions system as part of a deal to qualify for loans worth $15.15bn from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

UK/EUROPE - A legal battle over part-time judges' right to a pension from the Ministry of Justice has been referred to Europe for a final ruling.

UK - The shape of changes to the pension taxation system should be confirmed by the end of September, a Treasury consultation paper says.

UK - BlackRock, the world's biggest asset manager, probably won't buy U.K. inflation-linked bonds at today's sale amid "confusion" about the government's planned changes to pension indexing.