Europe

UK - Steel castings company William Cook has appointed Jagger & Associates to act as investment adviser to its pension scheme.

UK - Pension schemes are opposing government moves to make them a priority creditor in company insolvencies.

UK - There will be more over-65s than under-16s by 2014, latest projections from the Office for National Statistics show.

UK - The UK Government has published, to general industry disappointment, its Green Paper and Tax Simplification proposals in response to the Pickering and Sandler reports published in summer 2002.

UK - The Inland Revenue is to cease publishing paper copies of its manuals and updates from November 30.

UK - Consuelo Brooke, former head of the European specialist equity team at Merrill Lynch Investment Managers, has joined the specialised global equity fund manager Philippe Investment Management (PIM), as a director and member of its investment committee....

UK - Scottish Widows Investment Partnership has been accused of using misleading and misrepresentative figures in a bid to woo pension scheme trustees.

UK - Pensions minister Ian McCartney is seeking more ethnic minority response to the pensions Green Paper.

UK - Equity Partnerships Fund Management has acquired four retail properties from Clerical Medical Investment Management - now Insight Investment Management - for £5.1m.

UK - Ralph Frank has joined Mercer Investment Consulting in London as a senior consultant and European principal.