United Kingdom

UK - Multi-manager Skandia is to enter into the institutional defined contribution market and target pension funds between £30m to £45m.

UK - Gartmore has appointed Karl Bergqwist as head of credit research, effective in August.

UK - Henderson Global Investors is urging pension funds to snap up cheap equities before markets bounce.

UK - Almost a quarter of businesses with five or more employees have failed to provide staff with access to stakeholder pension schemes, new figures show.

UK - Couples are avoiding pension sharing in divorce orders because they are too complex, a survey by the Solicitors Family Law Association shows.

UK - Merchant Investors has added the Threadneedle strategic bond fund to its multi-manager fund range.

UK - Pensions schemes are being urged to make more use of cash as a short-term investment.

UK - Gissings has appointed Jeff Highfield as practice director for client accounting.

UK - The government is piloting the pensions world "almost" blind and without instruments, Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith told the party's pensions summit.

UK - Insolvent schemes in wind up can exploit a legal loophole to reduce their commitments to deferred members and increase their GMP payouts, lawyers say.