Europe

UK - The West Ferry Printers Pension Scheme trustees have agreed to a £130m (US$241m) buy-in deal with Norwich Union.

UK - Industry commentators have broadly welcomed the Pensions Regulator's decision to scrap plans to use mortality assumptions as a funding trigger.

UK - Pension fund commitment to commercial real estate has remained undimmed despite market turbulence, latest research shows.

UK - The government must introduce automatic increases to pension savings when member's salaries rise if people are to have a decent standard of living in retirement, BlackRock says.

UK - The use of derivatives by UK pension funds to hedge risk has fallen significantly in 2008 because of the ongoing credit crisis, Watson Wyatt has said.

ITALY - Italian regulators are set to review current rules which prohibit pension funds from investing in hedge funds, following the decision by the government's Treasury department to launch a public consultation on a draft regulatory document by the...

UK - Mortality assumptions will not be used as a primary trigger for funding plans, The Pensions Regulator said today.

NORWAY - The US$381bn Government Pension Fund-Global, a self-proclaimed leader in ethical investments, does not apply best practice in sustainable investments, according to Innovest.

ICELAND - The ISK61bn (US$681m) Festa lífeyrissjóður has appointed Optima Fund Management to run a new hedge fund investment worth €5m (US$7.3m), according to MandateWire.

DENMARK - The DKK30bn (US$5.86bn) Danish corporate pension fund AP Pension has made a further DKK400m investment in an undisclosed credit fund after the scheme allocated circa DKK230m (GBP25m) to the asset class at the end of last year, MandateWire reports....