Europe

UK - Defined benefit (DB) pension liabilities of some of the world's largest banks are now significantly greater than the bank's equity market value, according to Pension Capital Strategies (PCS).

FINLAND - The government has proposed temporary measures to ease pressure on pension funds to sell shares into a slumping market.

UK - Public sector pensions are still more valuable than most private sector pensions even after government reforms, the Pensions Policy Institute (PPI) says.

ITALY - Consulting firms Mercer and Tesi have merged to create one of the country's largest human resources consultants.

UK - Paternoster foresees a slowdown of business inflow during the last quarter of 2008 due to recent market turmoil, despite a new business increase of 23% in the third quarter.

ITALY - Italian economy minister Giulio Tremonti has called for a ban on hedge funds, defining such funds as "insane".

UK - The £562.4m (US$988m) London Borough of Tower Hamlets Pension Fund has postponed a decision on investing in private equity as tough market conditions have seen the value of the fund fall by over £100m since the end of March, MandateWire reports....

UK - The Financial Services Authority is concerned "inappropriate remuneration schemes" may have contributed to the current banking crisis.

UK - The National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) has launched the final version of its best practice principles on investment advice to pension funds.

UK - Lifestyle defined contribution (DC) funds offer a practical alternative to the issue of compulsory annuitisation, Watson Wyatt has said.