Europe

ITALY - The Italian government has restricted the power of pension regulator COVIP and transferred its duties to two other entities "in the name of liberalisation".

FRANCE/GERMANY - Macquarie Global Property Advisors (MGPA) has opened offices in Paris and Frankfurt.

DENMARK - The Danish government has been found to have breached European law by not granting tax deductions on contributions made under contracts with foreign pension institutions.

UK - AXA Investment Managers' UK CEO Paul Griffiths has joined Credit Suisse as MD and head of fixed income for asset management.

UK - The Scottish National Party (SNP) has told pensions minister John Hutton to resolve issues in England before criticising Scottish pensions.

ITALY - Over 75% of Italian pension funds have carried out a restructure in order to align with new pensions regulation calling for them to offer different lines of investment.

UK - The US$650m NM Rothschild & Sons pension fund has appointed State Street to provide custody, investment accounting and securities lending services.

UK - Investec Asset Management is targeting the growing UK DC market with the launch of a diversified hybrid fund that blends single and multi-manager offerings.

UK- Standard & Poor's has appointed eight new analysts to its European equity research team.

UK - BNP Paribas Asset Management has launched a global tactical asset allocation strategy to strengthen its offering for institutional investors seeking new sources of performance and diversification.