Europe

UK/GLOBAL - The defined benefit section of the recently formed Cable & Wireless Worldwide Retirement Plan has £136m (US$195.8m) deficit, end of year results show.

UK - Final salary pension schemes are now ranked as the second biggest threat facing corporates, Aon Consulting said.

SPAIN - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has urged Spain that "bold" changes to state pension provision should be adopted quickly to help ease the country's financial woes.

EUROPE - European investors show increasing concern on euro-denominated government debt due to recent market events and the pressure on the single currency, a survey by Fitch Ratings found.

UK - The Queen today confirmed the coalition government will legislate for the phasing out of the default retirement age and set a timetable for raising the state pension age, depending on the outcome of a review.

GLOBAL - The European rescue package has provided an out for long-term investors that had underestimated credit risk in their European sovereign holdings, PIMCO managing director and head of European portfolio management Andrew Balls said.

ITALY - The €5.2bn (US$6.4bn) Fondo Cometa has hired nine managers and completed the renewal of mandates for its Monetario Plus, Reddito and Crescita sub-funds due to expire this year.

UK - The coalition government will scrap the default retirement age "as soon as possible", pensions minister Steve Webb said.

UK/NETHERLANDS - Royal Bank of Scotland is nearing a deal to sell its European private equity portfolio to Alpinvest, a Dutch private equity fund owned by pension investors APG and PGGM, a person close to matter said.

FRANCE - France's Industry Minister Christian Estrosi said the government may raise the country's retirement age beyond 60 as part of a plan to stem the deficit in the nation's pay-as-you-go pension system.