Europe

UK - Pension funds will continue to increase their fixed income weightings, regardless of whether or not the controversial accounting standard FRS17 is abolished, according to Joe McKenna, head of global securities at Britannic Asset Management.

UK - A series of ideas to improve the governance of with-profits funds have been put forward in 'Governance of With-Profits Funds and the Future Role of the Appointed Actuary', the fifth and final issues paper stemming from the Financial Services Authority's...

ITALY - Non-Italian fund managers are being frozen out of Italy's new pensions market as Italian-owned management companies take the lion's share of mandates from the new contractual pension funds which have been set up by various industries, professions,...

UK - Takeover negotiations between Edinburgh Fund Managers (EFM) and Hermes Pensions Management have been ended, with client retention fears cited as the reason for the breakdown.

UK - Fund managers revenues shrank for the first time in five years, despite cost containment measures being put into practice, according to new research from consultants PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

EUROPE - Business confidence is making a steady climb according to new figures from the European Commission.

UK/SWITZERLAND - Robin Geffen is leading the management buyout of Orbitex Financial's UK asset management operations, following the decision by the Swiss firm to exit the UK market.

UK - Question marks surrounding the credibility of William M Mercer's manager recommendation figures have led them to seek a third party verifier.

UK - William M Mercer is lining up courses related to the Myners Review.

UK - The SIPP Provider Group has called for contracting-out to be abolished as part of its submission to the Alan Pickering simplification review.