Europe

EUROPE - Inadequate solvency levels are forcing more and more European pension funds to step up equity allocations and alternative and global investments in an effort to boost returns.

UK - Hewitt Bacon & Woodrow has appointed Anne Freeman and John Belgrove to its London-based investment team.

UK - More than half of all working adults will face financial difficulty in retirement, JPMorgan Fleming claims.

UK - Chartered accountant Grant Thornton wants a new system of "checks and balances" to monitor independent trustees.

UK/US - Fortune, the London-based alternative asset manager, is looking to raise its North American profile with the hiring of Annmarie Sasdi.

UK - Gartmore has hired Alix Stewart from Standard Life Investments to run the firm's retail corporate bond funds and to join the institutional bond management team.

UK - Ministers are using improved benefits for unmarried and same-sex couples to disguise a major downgrade in armed forces' pensions, critics claim.

UK - Poor member communications could be at the heart of a growing backlog of casework at the pensions ombudsman's office, it has emerged.

UK - Nine out of 10 workers believe a pension is the most important benefit that an employer provides, a survey by Virgin Money reveals.

UK - Fund managers are urging the government not to introduce legislation to limit "fat cat" payouts as the rewards-for-failure debate gathers steam.