Europe

UK - Amicus, the UK's largest private sector union, has pressed the Government to legislate against final salary scheme closures, accusing employers of turning back a century of pensions progress.

UK - Accenture has singled out stakeholder pensions as one reason why call centre jobs in the UK could "quickly disappear in the same way as jobs in heavy industry", an event which would have a dramatic impact upon the employment landscape.

UK - Consultant William M Mercer is running a series of courses on defined contribution (DC) plans aimed at new trustees.

UK - British American Tobacco has merged its BAT and Rothmans' pension schemes and is set to conduct an asset liability study of the combined fund in the third quarter.

UK - Actuaries have less than a month to log their interest in a tender by the Financial Services Authority (FSA).

EUROPE - Watson Wyatt has relaunched its global website with a new facility, ‘My Watson Wyatt', that allows visitors to pick the news and information that matter most to them.

DENMARK - EUR35bn Arbejdsmarkedets Tillaegspension (ATP) is looking to commit between EUR500-700m in global real estate over the next four years.

EUROPE - JPMorgan has acquired Investia's majority holding in FundsHub, Europe's first outsourced fund supermarket solutions provider, for an undisclosed sum. FundsHub's management and employees will also take an increased stake in the business.

NETHERLANDS/BELGIUM - Dutch/Belgian financial group Fortis has told investors to expect a 7% dip in net profit for 2001, compared to 2000's company high of EUR2,768m.

UK - The £800m Cambridgeshire County Council has completed its selection process for private equity managers and a global custodian.