Europe

UK - Standard & Poor's has upgraded Standard Life Investments' UK Smaller Companies Fund rating to double-A.

UK - The government will face a backlash if it presses ahead with plans to tax pension lump sums, the Conservative Party warns.

UK - The proportion of workers aged 50-60 with occupational pensions has fallen sharply over the last 10 years, a survey shows.

UK - Employees trust their firms less following a spate of pension fund closures, a new survey shows.

UK - Hermes and Prudential have been given the go ahead for a multi-million pound expansion of Milton Keynes's main shopping centre.

EUROPE - Barclays Global Investors has strengthened its hedge fund stable with the launch of a new European equity market neutral product.

UK/EUROPE - European ministers have rejected pleas from UK employers to place restrictions on agency workers' pension rights.

UK - Over half of UK companies reviewing their final salary pension schemes have opted to close it to new entrants. According to a survey from consultants Watson Wyatt only 33% have decided to make no significant change.

UK - Postal workers are being lobbied over strike action to protect pensions for workers whose jobs are being outsourced.

UK - Defined contribution scheme members who have been hit by falling stock markets can benefit from any revival by opting for income drawdown, a specialist claims.