Europe

UK - The London Borough of Hackney is searching for a pension fund administrator.

UK / EUROPE - The European pensions directive will not be completed before the end of the Spanish presidency in June or even before the end of the year, according to Theresa Villiers deputy leader of the Conservatives in the European Parliament and spokesman...

UK / ITALY - The UK's Trade Unions Congress (TUC) has backed striking workers in Italy, protesting against changes to working conditions, including some pension reform.

UK - The £483m Cardiff & Vale Glamorgan Pension Fund is looking at investing in private equity, according to a source at the fund.

UK - The increase to be awarded from April 6, 2002 to Guaranteed Minimum Pensions (GMPs) accrued from tax years 1988/9 has been confirmed as 1.7%.

UK - Nottinghamshire County Council has awarded Coller Capital and Pantheon Investments £7m apiece in private equity mandates.

EUROPE - Fortis Bank Information Banking and Strategic Asset Management Solutions Limited (SAMS) have set up a new joint venture covering Benelux institutional investors.

UK - Mercer Human Resource Consulting is organising the following courses and seminars over the next few months:

UK - The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has published a guide - 'Helping your employees with their pension options' - aimed at employers that have set up or are setting up stakeholder or group personal pension schemes for their employees.

UK - The Boots pension fund has lowered its allocation to fixed rate bonds to increase its inflation linked assets by £200m, bringing the asset class up to 33% of scheme assets.