Europe

SPAIN - Mellon Global Investments has appointed Ann LoCicero as head of international wholesale distribution.

UK - Watson Wyatt has been accused of blatantly copying The Pensions Trust's award-winning career-average scheme and trying to take the credit for radical thinking.

UK - Bob Bogle has joined Hathaway Investment Management as a senior fund manager and research analyst.

UK - The £4bn West Midlands Metropolitan Authorities Pension Fund claims it has become the first UK scheme to set up its own trustee training website.

UK - Only one-third of workers have an occupational pension scheme compared with 40% of people currently in retirement, government research shows.

EUROPE - Eastern European markets still offer above-average opportunities for investors, according to one leading expert.

UK - Invesco is urging trustees to use emerging market bonds to diversify their pension fund portfolios.

UK - Ratings agency Standard & Poor's is warning companies to close their final salary schemes or have their credit ratings downgraded.

UK - Maple Leaf Capital, the London-based hedge fund manager, has gone live with an integrated solution from US trading services platform TradingScreen and French portfolio and risk management experts, Sophis.

UK - Unscrupulous financial advisers are using lax trustee rules to pressurise financially-strapped firms to wind-up schemes, senior industry figures have revealed.