Europe

UK - Citigroup has confirmed the head of its insurance and pensions structured solutions group has left the bank.

UK - The performance of equity markets has been blamed for a worsening of the aggregate funding position of defined benefit schemes, with the surplus dropping by £45bn (US$89.3bn) in June.

DENMARK - The DKK30bn (US$6.3bn) AP Pension is planning to allocate a further $20m to private equity fund ECP Africa, according to MandateWire.

UK - Pensions & Investment Research Consultants (PIRC) has urged Marks & Spencer (M&S) to separate its chair and chief executive roles, after large institutional investors voted against the re-election of Stuart Rose to the board of directors.

UK - The £500m (US$987m) London Borough of Barnett pension fund has placed a contract for an actuarial consultant out to tender.

UK - Hermes is launching a new partnership amalgamating Hermes Focus Asset Management and Hermes Focus Asset Management Europe into a single partnership structure from January 2009.

EUROPE - Allocating to absolute returns funds is not a 'magic bullet' solution to deliver guaranteed investment returns against targets, S&P Fund Services has warned.

UK/BELGIUM - Fund of hedge fund (FoHF) manager International Asset Management (IAM) has announced it has parted company with Fortis after a full management buyout.

UK - Employers need to work harder to dispel the negative press defined contribution (DC) has attracted, despite many businesses reviewing staff schemes in recent times.

UK - A Barings study has revealed 2.3 million Brits - 5% of the UK adult population - have decided to review their pension arrangements in the last 12 months, as a result of falling property prices.