Europe

UK - The Merchant Navy Officers Pension Fund has insured around £500m (US$799m) of its pension liabilities through a bulk annuity buy-in deal with Lucida.

UK - Jessops is set to sell its main operating company to a special purpose vehicle owned by its bank, pension scheme and an employee trust.

UK - Buyout provider Paternoster will have the ability to write new business after shareholders agreed to inject £5m (US$8m) of new capital into the group.

UK/SWITZERLAND - Swisscanto is set to offer its specialist fixed income and global equity offering to UK pension schemes for the first time following an internal strategic review.

UK - The High Court has ruled it is legal for employers to force workers to retire at the age of 65.

UK - Barratt Developments has posted a £7.1m (US$11.6m) gain in income as a result of closing its defined benefit scheme to current employees.

EUROPE - The proposed Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive is in some respects "misguided" and would reduce investment returns and increase risk, the UK's National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) has claimed.

US/UK - The US should adopt the UK's practice of allowing shareholder advisory votes on executive compensation, a new report released today argued.

UK - The government will fail to protect millions of Britons from poverty in old age unless it makes vital changes to the way in which it plans to introduce personal accounts, a Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce report...

UK - The British Chamber of Commerce has called for an immediate suspension of the 2010/2011 Pension Protection Fund levy in a bid to support employers affected by the economic downturn.