Europe

UK - The Conservatives have pledged to reverse the multi-billon pound pension "tax raid" introduced in 1997 by then chancellor Gordon Brown.

UK - The volume of buyout transactions will rise to £5bn (US$7.9bn) in 2010 as prices become lower and more stable, the Society of Pension Consultants predicted.

ITALY - At least two Italian pension funds have dropped Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS) as custodian after Intesa San Paolo's (ISP) acquisition of the firm's custodian business led to conflicts of interests in their manager line-ups.

FRANCE - Fonds de Réserve pour les Retraites (FRR) has created an investment strategy committee that will help design, implement and monitor the scheme's asset allocation.

UK/US - Local authority pension schemes could be losing out on £125m (US$198.9m) by failing to participate in US class action lawsuits, research by Goal Group revealed.

UK - rpmi has completed a major strategic restructuring in a bid to position itself for future expansion.

UK - Google, US - CalPERS, US - Nebraska Investment Council

UK - The Financial Services Authority has confirmed it will continue to require disclosure of short selling - but said it will focus on pushing for an international transparency regime rather than establish long-term rules for the UK.

UK - There will be an ongoing process of automatic re-enrolment into personal accounts, pensions minister Angela Eagle said.

UK - The Pension Protection Fund will reduce the cap on its risk-based levy to 0.5% of liabilities.