Europe

UK - Scheme costs will change radically if Britain joins the euro, but it is far from certain whether they will go up or down, experts say.

UK - Standard & Poor's has cut Rolls Royce's credit rating to just two places above junk status because of its pension liabilities.

UK - The government must act to harmonise the savings and benefits regime to encourage lower-income consumers to save, according to the Royal London Group.

UK - Schemes are currently conducting wholesale reviews of their operations to bring themselves into line with pending government reform, pension managers claim.

UK - BT has vowed not to raise its prices to plug its scheme deficit despite posting a record £5.7bn FRS17 shortfall.

UK - Fund managers are calling on mining firms for more transparency in the donations they make to governments.

UK - The government is failing to deal with the pensions crisis by merely "tinkering" with current legislation instead of introducing necessary radical reforms.

UK - The amount of new money flowing into private equity from pension funds has fallen from £1.64bn in 2001 to £796m in 2002, a report from the British Venture Capital Association has confirmed.

UK - The Financial Services Authority is using Inalytics and Plexus to provide it with a historical database of equity market transactions in a bid to analyse commissions, market impact and timing costs.

UK - Fidelity Investments' DC clients are to be offered access to its high-performing retail funds, in a bid to boost choice for scheme members.