United Kingdom

UK - The head of Global Investors Services at HSBC, Steve Crockford, is to step down from his post.

UK - Prudential M&G is set to further develop its fixed income business in the UK with the hire of Bernard Abrahamsen as director of fixed income in its institutional team.

UK - Mercer Investment Consulting has negotiated a performance-related fee deal with Caterpillar Pension Fund.

UK/ITALY - Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP), the asset management of Lloyds TSB is to extend its reach into the Italian institutional market with a co-operation deal and with investment bank Cofiri Sim.

UK - The £3.3bn London Regional Transport pension fund has hired Inalytics and Euraplan to provide it with quarterly transaction costs analysis reports.

UK - The revamped £600m Sara Lee UK Pension Plan is looking to review its current investment strategy following the recent appointment of Mercer Human Resource Consulting as a bundled adviser.

WALES - Changes to investment arrangements are imminent at the £736m Torfaen County Borough Council Greater Gwent Pension Fund, with a possible move to a more specialist arrangement on the cards.

UK - Credit Suisse Asset Management (CSAM) has hired Jeremy Richardson to its London-based equity research effort.

UK - Hedge fund specialist Key Asset Management (Key) has boosted its presence in London with three new appointments.

UK - Life offices that do not sign-up to the Association of British Insurers' (ABI) ‘quality mark' should be "named, shamed and shunned", according to one industry expert.