United Kingdom

UK - Companies which opt to wind up final salary schemes will be forced to buy out members' pensions in full under reforms being urged by OPAS.

UK - Threadneedle Investments has increased the corporate bond proportion of its European Bond Fund to 40% in a bid to raise yields.

UK - Consultant Hewitt Bacon & Woodrow has picked up four pension fund clients from its rivals.

UK - Local authority pension funds have suffered a second year of negative returns, according the latest data from performance measurers WM Company (WM).

UK - Equitable Life policyholders who take an early exit from the insurer will now face losing a fifth of their funds.

UK/GLOBAL - Corporate bonds will continue to offer stable, high-rate returns despite global uncertainty over company values, Rothschild Asset Management maintains.

UK - Delaying the introduction of FRS17 could expose British companies to accounting disasters similar to those experienced in the US, City experts warn.

UK - Insolvent schemes in wind-up can use a hidden procedure in contracting-out rules to get members reinstated into the State Second Pension, a lawyer claims.

UK - Gresham Private Equity has invested £4.65m in the acquisition of Kindercare Group by Busy Bees, a childcare facilities company.

UK - Threadneedle Investments, part of Zurich Financial Services, has appointed Nigel Boakes as head of client reporting for the company's institutional business.