Europe

UK - Friends Ivory & Sime (FIS) is to acquire UK money manager Royal & SunAlliance Investments (RSAI), in a deal that will secure its position among the top ten UK fund managers by assets under management.

UK - Property investment is set to undergo the same level of transparency as other asset classes, following the launch of a new code of best practice by the the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) and the Association of Property Unit Trusts (APUT)....

UK - Actuarial firm Punter Southall & Co has hired a new marketing director.

UK - Global investment bank Lehman Brothers has set up a new UK-based hedge fund manager, Edgeworth Capital, following unabated interest in the class.

UK - Nearly two-thirds of corporate pension schemes show deficits under new accounting standard FRS 17, according to Mercer Human Resource Consulting.

UK - The £160m Thomson Travel Group Pension Scheme is undergoing an actuarial valuation, conducted by Hymans Robertson.

UK - The Financial Services Authority (FSA) is having to change to its rules on pension projections in light of the Government initiative to provide consumers with a statutory money purchase illustration (SMPI).

EUROPE - Expenditure on pensions accounted for 12.7% of the EU's GDP in 1999, according to the latest Eurostat figures.

UK - Companies should look at cutting defined benefit scheme costs before making the jump to defined contribution, Bacon & Woodrow argues.

UK - Fund managers are having their pay frozen in the current economic climate, a new report shows.