Europe

UK - Firms will foot the bill for giving women better annuity rates if a draft EU directive on sex discrimination takes effect, Hargreaves Lansdown warns.

UK - The £2.6bn London Pension Fund Authority has hired three new managers for private equity and has established a separate trust for its property foray.

UK - Merrill Lynch Investment Managers (MLIM) has appointed Tatiana Spineanu as lead analyst covering the utilities and telecoms sectors to the Europe, Middle-East and Africa (EMEA) fixed income credit research team.

UK - Trustees' management of their relationships with employers, pensioners, advisers and administrators is crucial to reducing risks within schemes, said OPDU's Alan Herbert.

UK - Employees will only use online capabilities if the sponsoring employer has an education programme in place.

UK - Schroders has appointed David Bird as global sector leader for materials responsible for pan-european & US materials.

UK - Isis Asset Management wants trustees to demand fund managers give specific examples of where corporate practice has been changed for the better.

EUROPE - Europe's fund management industry is poised for yet another face-lift as unrelenting market conditions continue to batter-down profits.

UK - The Financial Services Authority is conducting an "end-to-end" review of its enforcement process in a bid to speed up the system.

UK - Insight Investment has lost its UK sales director Robert Bailey to Framlington.