Europe

UK - Raising the state retirement age should not be seen as a standalone policy but as an "important trade-off" in pensions reform, a new study says.

UK - Compulsion must be introduced to prevent an over-reliance on the state benefit system.

UK - The 21st century presents new challenges to saving for retirement. The process of globalisation has brought the world closer together with a free-flowing movement of goods and money, says Mary Davies, director in the Pre-Retirement Association.

UK - Bank of Ireland Asset Management (BIAM) has appointed Alice O'Dowd as institutional client service manager.

NORDIC REGION - Nordic institutional investors, including pension funds are ploughing into alternative investments.

SWITZERLAND/UK - Zurich Financial Services has completed the sale of the closed business of Zurich Life Assurance Company, one of Zurich's UK life businesses, to Swiss Re.

UK - Rising confidence in the manufacturing sector will come as a ray of hope to the industry's stifled pension schemes, claims the Confederation of British Industry (CBI).

UK - Final salary schemes are becoming increasingly obsolete as jobs for life have "all but disappeared", new research shows.

UK - An independent trustee firm is urging the government to produce a detailed timetable which will back-up its proposals to scrap "overly complex" guaranteed minimum pension arrangements.

UK - Pooled balanced pension funds have posted positive returns for the second consecutive quarter - rising by 3.9% in the three months to September 30, new figures show.