Europe

UK - With the UK economy now in recession and the downturn getting worse, saving into company pensions has become less of a priority for individuals, according to Towers Perrin.

UK - Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) and Enhanced Analytics Initiative are set to join forces with the aim of improving global investment research.

UK - Pensions reform minister Mike O'Brien has been replaced by Rosie Winterton as part of Gordon Brown's government reshuffle.

ICELAND - Iceland's government is still struggling to find enough resources to rescue its banking system and has called on the country's local pension funds to repatriate foreign assets.

EUROPE - Proposals to suspend fair value accounting, aimed at improving market stability, have triggered a mixed reaction from the pension fund and asset management industry.

UK - Employee confidence in pensions as a way of saving for retirement has improved from 3% to 22% during 2008, a survey by the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) has found.

EUROPE - The Eurozone has officially entered into recession, with two consecutive quarters of negative growth, according to France's National Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies (Insee).

SWEDEN - The SEK13.6bn (US$1.9bn) corporate pension fund Postens Pensionsstiftelse has increased its infrastructure and property investments by SEK259m since the end of last year, MandateWire has learnt.

EUROPE - Fortis, the Dutch-Belgian bank that was partially nationalised earlier in the week, has dropped plans to form a partnership with Chinese bank and insurance company Ping An.

UK - The National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) has attacked proposed new accounting rules for pension schemes as 'premature' and potentially damaging to the long term viability of defined contribution (DB) schemes.