Europe

UK - Recruitment consultancy The Sammons Group is giving quality service - and that's official.

UK - Vodafone's chief executive has apologised for taking a US-style pay agreement that sparked major shareholder fury last year.

UK - Fixed income manager Pimco has been awarded 17 performance achievement certificates from Lipper, the mutual-fund information and analysis service.

UK - The vast majority of pension funds have already implemented, or are taking steps to implement, Paul Myners's principles on institutional investment, the NAPF claims.

UK - UBS Global Asset Management has hired former Goldman Sachs chief strategist Neil Williams as regional head of asset allocation, based in London.

UK - Award-winning impressionist Jon Culshaw will be the host for this year's UK Pensions Awards, created by IPN's sister title Professional Pensions.

UK/EU - Many key proposals in the UK's Green Paper will be annulled by Europe's upcoming Pensions Directive, senior UK lawyers claim.

UK - Football, cricket and rugby players could be left in limbo by Inland Revenue moves to simplify the pension tax regime, law firm Charles Russell warns.

UK - State Street Corporation is to provide full accounting and fund administration services to Schroder's investment funds.

UK - Northern Trust has hired Veronique Botton as programme manager in its London-based multi-manager investment team.