Europe

UK - Local government representatives are calling on the government to address the poor take-up of pensions among low paid local government staff.

UK - The BT Pension Scheme is expected to reveal the largest ever pension fund deficit in UK corporate history next week.

UK - The NAPF has set up a working group in a bid to boost pension provision among smaller employers through multi-employer pension schemes.

UK - Watson Wyatt has attacked proposals from the actuarial profession that schemes should only use bond values to measure fund liabilities.

UK - Retail giant Next Group look set to drop Legal & General Investment Management as the fund manager to its £2m DC scheme.

UK - Utility and transport companies are seeking approval to shunt the burden of their deficit-ridden pension schemes to the public through increased prices.

UK - The £341m London Borough of Greenwich Superannuation Fund has dropped Schroder Investment Management after adopting a specialist manager structure.

SWITZERLAND/UK - J O Hambro Capital Management is targeting institutional investors in the UK and Switzerland with the launch of two new investment funds - a European mid-cap fund and a European blue-chip mid-cap fund.

UK - The shift from final salary to money purchase occupational pensions provision is abating, the fourth defined contribution survey carried out by JPMorgan Fleming shows.

UK - The Co-operative Group's £2bn CWS Pension Fund has rehired Merrill Lynch Investment Managers after reaching an out-of-court settlement to its "poor performance" law suit.