United Kingdom

UK - Liberty Ermitage Group (LEG) has hired Sarah Allen as director - fund research.

UK - Royal & Sun Alliance (R&SA) group's UK life operation has been fined £1.35m by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) following gaps in the company's personal pensions review.  

UK - Local authority pension funds are changing investment procedures to fall into line with key principles in the Myners Report.

UK - Performance measurer Russell/Mellon CAPS has appointed Fraser Berrie as a client relationship manager, based in London.  

UK - Henderson Global Investors has won two awards for its Horizon range of funds based on their performance over the last three years.

UK - UBS Global Asset Management is urging schemes to buy equities while they are still cheap.

UK - OPRA will become more of a "risk assessor" of company pension schemes as part of proposed changes recommended in the Pickering Report.

UK - Northern women working part-time for small employers are the UK's big pension losers, according to the Trades Union Congress (TUC).

UK - Pension funds have increased their property allocations by up to 50% over the last six months in a bid to diversify risk, fund managers say.

UK - Government moves to end two-tier pensions among local council contract workers are doomed to fail, West Midlands pensions chief Mike Woodall claims.