Europe

UK - Schroder Exempt Property Unit Trust showed the best performance of property unit trusts in 2001, according to the latest quarterly survey by the Association of Property Unit Trusts (APUT) and HSBC, who say their indices once again highlight the extent...

UK - Politicians are scared of making a decision on the age of retirement according to Tom Ross, vice president of the Faculty of Actuaries in Scotland, who claims that that particular power should rest with an independent committee of experts.

UK - FTSE's socially responsible index, FTSE4GOOD is in talks with a number of weapons, tobacco and nuclear fuels company, following a decision to re-examine inclusion criteria.

UK - London-based Gartmore has hired Jon Thornton as its new head of UK equities, joining the firm at the end of the month.

UK - Consulting actuaries Punter Southall has today announced the launch of a specialist unit dedicated to retirement planning for senior executives.

EUROPE - Swiss insurer Zurich Financial Services saw overall sales of life and pensions grow by only 3% to £3.8bn in its UK, Irish, and international businesses.

ITALY - New research has called upon the Italian government to speed up its pensions reforms and curtail its high pension expenditure to free-up resources for other areas.

EUROPE - Gartmore has strengthened its German and Italian offices with three more appointments.

SPAIN - Insurers Allianz Seguros has bagged a EUR466m mandate from Banco Popular Group to oversee the group's pension scheme.

UK - Despite a slowing world economy, the number of pessimists has only increased from 2% to 5% since the previous year, according to the annual survey of the property investment market by Baring, Houston & Saunders (BH&S), a member of ING Real Estate....