Europe

UK - JP Morgan has asked not be reconsidered for a custodian mandate at the Cambridgeshire County Council Pension Fund following a tender for a sole provider at the local authority scheme.

UK - The £1bn Aberdeen City Council Pension Fund is State Street Global Advisors' first client to sign up for Friends Ivory & Sime's responsible engagement overlay (reo) programme.

UK - Invesco is up for review at the £483m Cardiff & Vale Glamorgan Pension Fund following a move to tender a £29m Far East equities portfolio.

UK - Defence contractor Raytheon is to reduce the equity weighting in all five of its pension schemes, worth a combined £160m, in favour of bonds, shifting from a 50/50 allocation to 70/30.

UK - Chief executive of Britannic Group, Danny O' Neil, has quit the firm after only nine months in the post.

UK - The government will not be supporting a private member's Bill on civil partnerships launched by Lord Lester.

UK - Merrill Lynch has succeeded in reducing its workforce by 9000 people globally after it offered voluntary redundancy last year to its 65,000 staff worldwide.

UK - The government's pension review has already received more than 20 responses.

UK - Local authority pension experts are getting together to look at the sensitive issue of the increasing costs of ill health retirements among council workers.

UK - The Railtrack Shareholders Action Group (RSAG) has criticised the Strategic Rail Authority's (SRA) plan to revitalise Britain's crumbling rail network.