Europe

EUROPE - Pension funds have been warned by industry professionals to avoid fleeing the UK property market in favour of perceived higher returns in continental Europe.

UK - Pensions commentator Con Keating has rubbished suggestions the UK Pension Protection Fund (PPF) should use risk hedging to ensure a stable PPF levy - claiming it would mean "massively higher premiums".

UK - Work and pensions secretary Peter Hain has pledged the government's commitment to justice for those robbed of their pensions when companies went bust.

UK - The GlaxoSmithKline Common Investment Fund has awarded Goodman Property Investors a €150m mandate to invest in European property portfolios.

UK - The £1.4bn Kingfisher pension scheme has awarded a 130/30 mandate to Goldman Sachs Asset Management and a second unconstrained, 130/30 mandate to Wegelin's Active Indexing 130/30 strategy.

UK - The Pension Protection Fund (PPF) has just released its latest figures, showing poor performance throughout August, having been battered by the continuing market turmoil.

UK - Local authority pension schemes have reduced their allocation to fixed income and have diversified into alternatives, according to a new survey.

NORWAY - Folketrygdfondet, the manager for the Government Pension Fund - Norway, has issued a tender seeking external financial auditing services for the National Insurance Fund and the €13.3bn Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund.

UK - BlackRock has acquired dc-Link in order to bring the administration of BlackRock's defined contribution (DC) pension schemes in-house.

UK - The Pensions Regulator has drafted guidance to clarify how it would approach corporate activity, such as mergers and acquisitions.