Europe

UK - Unions have dubbed four MG Rover directors "morally unacceptable" for setting aside £10m for their own pension funds.

SPAIN - The new Spanish government of José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero (pictured) will face pressure to acknowledge the future deficits of the public pension system.

UK - Employers are to be given tax incentives to offer pensions advice to staff.

UK - The government wants institutional investors - including pension funds - to help solve the housing crisis through investment in Property Investment Funds.

UK - UK-based SRI research house Innovest Strategic Value Advisors has teamed up with Stockholm-based firm Ethix to expand product screening in the Nordic region.

UK - Morley Fund Management chief executive Keith Jones will be the next chairman of the Association of British Insurers' investment committee.

UK - Annuity experts have welcomed the government's decision to delay tax simplification until April 2006.

UK - The former executive director of the US Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation is visiting London next month to outline the dangers in the Pensions Protection Fund.

UK - Increased life expectancy poses as great a threat to the solvency of pension schemes as falling stock markets, the Faculty of Actuaries warns.

UK - Taxpayers will be forced to pay for the pensions of low to middle income earners unless there are greater incentives to save, new research shows.