Europe

UK - KPMG International has set up an international standards group in London in a bid to achieve global consistency in the application of IFRS and International Standards on Auditing (ISAs).

EUROPE - Significant changes to the way discount rates and other assumptions are determined will be expected as EU states implement the Institutions for Occupational Retirement Provisions (IORPs) directive, a survey has shown.

UK - John Lewis Partnership Pensions Trust has appointed JPMorgan Asset Management to manage a £50m Japanese equities mandate.

UK - The government is to unveil pension proposals that would see up to 10 million workers automatically enrolled in a new low cost pension system.

UK - The £1.1bn Northamptonshire County Council Local Government Pension Scheme is tendering a total of £50m to be divided into two fund of hedge fund mandates, marking its first foray into the asset class.

FRANCE/SWEDEN - Almost a quarter of French institutional investors expect SRI to account for more than 10% of their assets within three years, found the fifth annual Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) survey.

FRANCE - Director general of the French civil servants' fund Caisse des Dépôts and Fonds de Réserve Pour les Retraites executive board chairman Francis Mayer, died on Saturday morning at age 56.

UK - Employers "levelling down" after 2012 could lead to a £10bn reduction in employer contributions, research undertaken for the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) by Deloitte has found.

FRANCE - French civil servants' fund Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations has purchased a 25.5% stake in Eutelsat Communications, which is worth €862.7m.

SPAIN - Demographic developments will require pension policies that are geared towards rebalancing the sources of growth, according to Miguel Fernández Ordónez, governor, Bank of Spain.