Europe

UK - Pension schemes are caught in a "deadly financial pincer movement" by dividend freezes on company shares, delegates at the recent City Forum's ‘Pensions in Crisis' debate at the National Liberal Club, Whitehall, were told.

UK - Two men have been sentenced to a total of five-and-a-half years for defrauding the Inland Revenue through a pensions liberation scam.

UK - Employees' pensions awareness and understanding is "woefully low", claims Invesco Pensions chief executive David Butcher.

UK - The Pre-Retirement Association has launched a website aimed at educating the public about money and financial management.

UK - Managing employee benefits effectively can make all the difference to staff performance and retention, law firm TLT says.

UK - Fears over mass closures of DB pension schemes are exaggerated, a new Jardine Lloyd Thompson survey shows.

EU/UK - MEPs have climbed down over changes to a draft EU pensions directive which threatened to scrap tax free lump sum retirement pay-outs in the UK.

UK - A former adviser with the consultancy Institutional Design has set up his own London-based corporate governance consultancy.

UK - Trustees are facing an unquantifiable bill to cover death benefits for thousands of reservists that could be called up for a war against Iraq.

EUROPE - Multi-manager Permal, owned by French group Worms & Cie, is offering institutions the opportunity to invest in the Permal Global High Yield Holdings fund, following demand from investors for a more substantial fixed-income product.