United Kingdom

UK - Scottish Equitable claims its new online payment system, SmartPay, will speed up the payment of pension contributions.

EUROPE/UK - European venture capital activity took another worrying slide during the second quarter 2002 posting the worst figures for three years, according to the latest data from Ernst & Young and VentureOne.

UK - Pension solvency levels under FRS17 are no different today than they were four years ago, accounting giant PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) claims.

UK/EUROPE - UK coal mines look set to be the first companies to be hit by the Beckmann ruling which preserves early retirement rights for transferred staff.

UK - Scottish Life has posted strong new business growth for the first half of this year with company pensions up by more than 40% at £48m.

SCOTLAND - Mercer Human Resources Consulting is hosting a seminar on the future of Scottish pension provision.

UK/EUROPE - Retained fire-fighters have vowed to fight on after an employment tribunal ruling denied 15,000 employees the right to join the Firemen's Pension Scheme.

UK - Leading pension scheme consultant Watson Wyatt could face a massive deficit on its own fund, figures filed at Companies House show.

UK - Lawyers have accused the pensions ombudsman of "stretching" the definition of maladministration.

UK - Engineering company GKN is considering closing its £1.5bn final salary scheme to new members in a bid to freeze rising liabilities.