Europe

UK - Despite the Pensions Bill empowering trustees to modify future accrual of benefits, trustees say that they will leave it to the new pensions regulator to decide on funding levels if they are unable to reach agreement with employers.

UK - Schemes reported for making late payments have almost halved since regulators urged actuaries and auditors to focus on more serious issues.

UK - Top executives of small retail and distribution companies earn twice as much as their counterparts in the oil, gas and mineral sectors, new research shows.

UK - Pension scheme shifts from balanced to specialist mandates underpinned Royal London Asset Management's strong second quarter performance.

UK - More than 80% of financial companies claim corporate governance will be on their agenda for the "foreseeable future", a new survey shows.

UK - Co-operative Insurance Services is encouraging staff to take early retirement as part of modernisation plans.

UK - Trustees will increasingly become involved in corporate transactions involving their plan sponsor in order to protect their schemes' funding, law firm Dickinson Dees predicts.

UK - The government will not make a compulsory increase to the number of member-nominated trustees on scheme boards - even though it would boost confidence, delegates at a recent conference heard.

UK - Retail giant Marks and Spencer remains a takeover target and schemes will retain their holdings to capitalise on any future bids, a fund manager predicts.

UK - Multi-employer and risk sharing plans will benefit from the demise of single employer defined benefit schemes, the conference heard.