Europe

UK - Local authority schemes are shifting the burden of their fund deficits on to council tax payers in a £500m bill.

UK - The Trades Union Congress remained upbeat despite a unanimous decision by shareholders to approve a controversial pay deal at telecoms giant Vodafone.

EUROPE - New-York-based Dow Jones Indexes (DJI) has launched six new country-specific value and growth indices tracking France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden and UK.

UK - Members of the KPMG Staff Pension Scheme are to take legal action to prevent trustees and employers switching their entire funds' assets into gilts.

EUROPE - Some of Europe's leading companies are overstating pension fund growth which is flattering pre-tax profits, according new data from Japanese bank Nomura.

UK - Logistics and shipping company Exel is set to close its two final salary schemes to new members, despite both being in surplus.

UK - Seven Investment Management is to reduce customer fees charged on Winterthur Life's Universal SIPP fund from 1.5% to 1.4% a year.

SCOTLAND - The £651m Fife Council Superannuation Fund may become the latest regional fund to adopt a specialist investment approach, aimed for 2003.

UK - Deutsche Property Asset Management has launched a property fund which aims to outperform the IPD monthly index by 3% per annum.

UK - Schroders Investment Management has boosted its global credit research team with the appointment of Anders Persson and Suzanne Ferlic.