Europe

UK - The UK government should issue longevity bonds to help pension schemes and insurance companies address longevity risk, the Cass Business School said.

UK - Increases in inflation assumptions have increased scheme liabilities by £100bn (US$146.1bn) but are still failing to keep pace with market assumptions, experts said.

As Italy has largely ignored transition management, Giovanni Legorano looks at the reasons for this and asks if this is set to change in the near future

UK - The coalition government will take a "long hard look" at auto-enrolment and the delivery of NEST before deciding on its future, Steve Webb said.

UK - The current fiscal and political strain on the eurozone could prove to be too much for the weakening euro and there is a chance the currency could collapse, attendees at the Global Pensions Currency Management Forum in London heard.

SPAIN - The Spanish congress eked through a freeze on state pensions for 2011 by only one vote as the country implements a package of emergency measures to tackle its deficit.

UK - Mohamed Al Fayed decided to sell Harrods after the pension scheme trustees refused to clear a dividend payment, it emerged yesterday.

What will this week bring from embattled Europe? The sovereign debt crisis has been gathering momentum, and like a pendulum swinging, with each pass it gathers speed and force.

It is surprising there has been no significant widening of credit spreads post the hung parliament and the eurozone crisis, Schroders says.

FRANCE - President Nicolas Sarkozy's party Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (UMP) confirmed its plans to increase retirement age and the years of contribution needed to qualify for a pension in France.