Europe

UK - Martin Harris has resigned as head of UK defined benefit (DB) at Fidelity.

EUROPE - The Committee of European Insurance and Occupational Pension Supervisors (CEIORPS) has released a report on the differences between solvency requirements and barriers to creating a truly harmonised European pension system.

EUROPE - Almost half of defined contribution pension schemes do not regularly review the range or number of investment choices they offer members, according to a survey from Mercer.

NORWAY - The Government Pension Fund - Global is to make real estate a separate asset class and expand its benchmark portfolio to include more emerging markets, finance minister Kristin Halvorsen has revealed.

UK - Scotland's new Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) has received support from members of the country's largest local government union.

UK - East Sussex County Council has placed two mandates worth £700m (US$1.39bn) out to tender.

EUROPE - European pension schemes have increased their exposure to equities in 2008, despite recent troubles, according to a survey from Mercer.

UK - Risk management and governance policies by corporate pension funds have improved but are not being followed through with action, according to PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC).

CZECH REPUBLIC - Pension fund performance last year was the lowest on record, with an average return of 2.5-3%.

UK - Pension Corporation has hit back after the UK's biggest trade union Unite urged the government to legislate to protect pension schemes from "raids" by private equity style companies.