Europe

UK - Penrose, a public relations consultancy, has released a free tailored media guide for pension scheme trustees about effectively managing PR.

UK - As the consultation period on the pension protection levy draws to a close, industry commentators have highlighted the challenges still facing the Pension Protection Fund (PPF).

EUROPE - The voluntary supplementary pension fund for MEPs at the European Parliament has appointed Aon Consulting to conduct an actuarial study on the portfolio.

UK - The newsletter for trustees at Royal Dutch Shell has suggested contributions could be suspended to its £11.9bn UK pension fund for up to a year.

UK - Over 50% of the top 200 company pension schemes are back in surplus as a side effect of the summer's credit crunch, according to research from Aon.

UK -A total of 7% of UK adults (3.2m people) are relying on property investments to fund their retirement, leaving them dangerously exposed to fluctuations in the UK property market and interest rate movements, according to Baring Asset Management.

NORWAY -The US$328bn Government Pension Fund - Global may significantly increase its equity allocation, according to Knut Kjær, the head of Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), which manages the portfolio.

UK - UK defined benefit (DB) pension schemes could be among the "indirect casualties" of the fall out from the US sub prime crisis, following information released by the Bank of England.

UK - The Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) has appointed Russell Investments to carry out a commission recapture programme for its externally managed global portfolios.

UK - Trustees from smaller pension funds have been urged to conduct more scheme specific analysis on mortality risk.