Europe

UK - Over half of all final salary pension schemes are now closed to new entrants or frozen, a study by the Association of Consulting Actuaries reveals.

UK - The corporate team at Southampton-based law firm Blake Lapthorn have netted transactions worth £500m since the beginning of the year.

UK - Scheme costs could soar by up to 30% because outdated mortality tables mean liabilities are massively underestimated.

UK - A comprehensive survey of the UK occupational pensions industry has been published by the Incomes Data Services.

UK - Schroder Investment Management has developed a structured overlay service to reduce the "hidden costs" involved in schemes switching from equities to bonds.

EUROPE/UK - The Netherlands' ABN Amro Mellon Global Securities Services held its inaugural UK client and industry educational conference on 25 September in London.

UK - The number of final salary scheme closures in 2002 has already equalled last year's total, preliminary data from the NAPF's annual survey shows.

UK/NETHERLANDS/BELGIUM - The Royal Bank of Scotland Financial Markets is to market Fortis Investment Management's inaugural managed synthetic CDO.

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

EUROPE - EURO-VL took over the mutual back office activities of Etoile Gestion, an asset management company owned by Crédit du Nord, on 1 October after carrying out an identical operation with SG Asset Management on 1 July.