Europe

UK - Air travellers face New Year chaos as BAA staff voted in favour of strike action over the closure of its final salary pension scheme to new entrants.

UK - The Pension Protection Fund (PPF) has tendered for a consultant to work on the risk based levy to be applied to schemes from 2010 onwards.

IRELAND - Pension funds could face fee increases of up to 2400% if The Pensions Board goes ahead with plans to demand higher charges from members to cover higher staffing costs in 2009.

FINLAND - Nokia Pension Fund is to transfer the statutory pension liability of Nokia and Nokia Siemens networks in Finland to the pension insurance companies Ilmarinen and Varma in March 2008.

NETHERLANDS - The Bank of New York (BNY) Mellon Corporation has received approval from the Dutch regulator to complete its acquisition of ABN AMRO Mellon Global Securities Services BV.

UK - The Government has reneged on a promise to grant equal pension rights to working mothers with National Insurance contribution gaps, by allowing them to purchase up to nine years worth of 'top-up' contributions.

Morley and Aberdeen lost out in a portfolio restructure announced by union UNISON's £276.3m pension fund yesterday.

UK - Analysis of the defined benefit (DB) pension landscape has shown the number of schemes in deficit, on a s179 basis, has fallen by 10% in the year up until 30 March 2007.

EUROPE - European companies with offshore pension funds could be breaking the law, according to Deloitte Belgium.

UK - Trinity Mirror has announced a £175m (US$350m) share buy-back scheme which will return capital to shareholders as part of the group's large scale reorganisation of its business.