Europe

UK - The £3.7bn (US$5.4bn) Merseyside pension fund has awarded four new mandates worth £360m as part of a reallocation to unconstrained investment strategies.

UK - People hardest hit by the near collapse of Equitable Life will be compensated by the government, the Treasury has confirmed.

EUROPE- Deutsche Bank plans to expand into the nascent Asian ETF business after strong European growth in its two-year old offerings.

UK - Merseyside Pension Fund has provided 50% of the £30m (US$43.5m) seed funding for the Nomura RAFI global all country equity fund.

UK - Compensation for Equitable Life policyholders is expected to be confirmed by the government tomorrow.

UK -Large retail sector defined benefit pension schemes are set to cause a substantial drain on company cash flow, a Pension Capital Strategies study reveals.

EUROPE - European credit will outperform cash and government bonds in 2009, fund managers claim.

UK - The aggregate deficit of 7800 defined benefit (DB) schemes monitored by the Pension Protection Fund increased by £58.5bn (US$85.1bn) in December.

EUROPE - The European Commission has decided to launch formal proceedings against US ratings agency Standard & Poor's for issues relating to its monopoly on the issuance of international securities identification numbers (ISIN).

UK - The trustee of the 5000-member Leyland DAF Pension Scheme has insured the scheme's liabilities in a £230m (US$334.4m) buyout deal with Pension Insurance Corporation.