Europe

UK - ABN AMRO Asset Management has appointed Fidelity's Anne-Sophie Girault as a global product specialist on the back of increased demand for its absolute return products.

UK - Amendments to FRS 17 requiring disclosure of mortality rate assumptions will put pressure on pension schemes with varying assumptions to either justify their decision or "level up" and improve their funding levels, according to an industry expert....

UK - Aon has launched a Pensions Security Indemnity product (PSI) that guarantees pensioners will receive up to 100% of their benefits should their corporate sponsor enter into insolvency, but the firm insisted it would not be competing against buy-out...

UK - Chancellor Gordon Brown's pre-budget stance on Alternatively Secured Pensions (ASPs) has received a mixed reception from the industry.

UK - The cash management industry has welcomed the UK Financial Services Authority's (FSA) quarterly consultation paper, which broadens the regulations for the usage of cash management funds, increasingly being used by pension funds for collateral management....

UK - Just two months after breaking the £1bn barrier, as first revealed in Global Pensions, Investment Gateway, Watson Wyatt's strategy for defined contribution pension schemes has seen 20 plans, including the firm's own, committing over £2bn to the product....

UK - In the pre-budget report released today, chancellor Gordon Brown has announced the April increase in the basic state pension will be in line with September's Retail Price Index (RPI) of 3.6%, taking the basic state pension to £87.30 per week.

EUROPE - Estonia, Poland and Latvia were warned not to rest on their laurels just yet regarding pension expenditure since projections by the EU Commission could turn out to be less favourable than has been assumed.

EUROPE - AXA Real Estate Investment Managers is undertaking an aggressive growth strategy through an "acquisition programme" in Sweden and Finland, which could lead to the opening of a regional office.

FRANCE - AXA Real Estate Investment Managers is undertaking an aggressive growth strategy through an "acquisition programme" in Sweden and Finland, which could lead to the opening of a regional office.