Europe

UK - Aegon Asset Management has appointed Jon Bennett as head of its institutional business following the departure of Mike Craston.

NORWAY - Norges Bank will purchase foreign exchange equivalent to NOK 430m (e51m) per day for the NOK 942.4bn (e114bn) Government Petroleum Fund in October.

UK - Underfunded schemes in wind-up will have to pay for a government information gathering exercise that determines their eligibility for compensation.

UK - Finance directors have taken control of the defined contribution (DC) pension purse strings and many impose limits on the number of employees that join to cut company costs, new research by the Pensions Institute has revealed.

UK - Work and pensions secretary Alan Johnson is ignoring employer concerns and taking a ‘pro-union' stance on pensions, the Confederation of British Industry claims.

UK - State Street Global Advisors (SSgA), the investment management arm of State Street Corporation and the largest institutional fund manager in the world, has won a £75m (e109m) passive equity mandate from Liontrust Asset Management.

BELGIUM - The European Financial Services Round Table (EFR) has called on the European Union to create a Pan-European pension regime to work hand-in-hand with existing pension structures with the aim of realising a European single market for private pensions....

UK - New rights for the disabled are causing employers to cut back on ill-health pension provision for all members, according to law firm Allen & Overy.

SCOTLAND - Global consulting firm Watson Wyatt is gearing up to expand its investment consulting presence in Scotland. The firm has appointed actuary and investment management professional Iain Beattie (pictured) as partner to head up its investment consulting...

UK - Defined benefit schemes could slash their risk by more than 50% if they embrace the full range of alternative assets, Axa Investment Managers claims.