Europe

UK - The members of 14 UK-based hedge funds have announced plans for an industry code of conduct.

BELGIUM - The Dutch ministry of social affairs and employment has denied there is a hostile row between Belgium and the Netherlands because of Belgium's status as the sole host for pan-European pension funds.

EUROPE - New figures highlighting the damage caused by the sub prime crisis reveal that the tidal wave of redemptions from institutional and retail investors amounted to €70bn.

GERMANY - Growing demand from German multi-national companies eager to set up European pension vehicles to pool assets across countries has been thwarted by regulatory conditions, according to local asset managers and consultants.

UK - Pest control firm, Rentokil Initial, has awarded a £340m mandate for UK corporate bonds to Standard Life Investments.

EUROPE - The European Commission's acceptance of proposed amendments to the portability directive has been criticised in some legal circles as a backward step.

UK - Having already blasted the private equity sector for creating unfunded pension liabilities, the GMB trade union has now slammed changes to capital gains tax rates.

UK - Alistair Darling, chancellor of the exchequer, released the UK government's Pre-Budget Report yesterday outlining reforms to the state second pension scheme (S2P) and corporate tax allowances for company pensions.

UK - Some 714 additional defined benefit (DB) pension schemes covered by the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) are in surplus compared to a year ago, according to the organisation's most recent index results.

UK - The British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme (BCSSS) has doubled its allocation to alternative assets over the past year, with a plan to increase this to 20% of the fund's entire value, according to the latest BCSSS annual report.