Europe

UK - Gissings has appointed Guy Ridley as transition adviser. He will apply a uniform implementation process which the employee benefits provider has developed over several years for its new pensions administration clients.

UK - Volatile equity markets will encourage trustees to diversify their portfolio and branch out into alternative asset classes, speakers at The Pension Show told delegates.

UK - BACS, one of the world's largest automated clearing houses, has appointed Punter Southall as actuaries and administrators to its defined benefit (DB) pension scheme.

UK - New institutional business dropped 20% at Legal & General during the third quarter. But overall new business soared.

UK - Barclays Global Investors (BGI) has launched the BGI UK Equity Ascent Asset Allocation Fund.

UK - The £1.25bn Nottinghamshire County Council Pension Fund has committed £25m (2%) to private equity investment and hopes to appoint a fund manager for this portfolio in the beginning of 2002.

UK - The former Data Protection Commission has rebuked claims that pension trustees will be overwhelmed by compliance burdens with the introduction of the Data Protection Act 1998.

UK - More than 50 pension schemes in breach of the Pensions Act were named and shamed this week in a tough new move by industry watchdog OPRA.

UK - Fund management companies should not consider themselves to have immunity from litigation, the prosecuting barrister in the Unilever court case has warned.

UK - A passive management style outperforms around 60% of active managers, a new report by consultants PricewaterhouseCoopers claims.