United Kingdom

UK - A local authority fund is tendering two specialist briefs, one of which is currently held by Schroder Investment Management.

UK - Amicus, the UK's largest private sector union, has pressed the Government to legislate against final salary scheme closures, accusing employers of turning back a century of pensions progress.

UK - Accenture has singled out stakeholder pensions as one reason why call centre jobs in the UK could "quickly disappear in the same way as jobs in heavy industry", an event which would have a dramatic impact upon the employment landscape.

UK - Consultant William M Mercer is running a series of courses on defined contribution (DC) plans aimed at new trustees.

UK - British American Tobacco has merged its BAT and Rothmans' pension schemes and is set to conduct an asset liability study of the combined fund in the third quarter.

UK - Actuaries have less than a month to log their interest in a tender by the Financial Services Authority (FSA).

UK - The £800m Cambridgeshire County Council has completed its selection process for private equity managers and a global custodian.

UK - Standard & Poor's, the global rating agency, said yesterday that it had revised its CreditWatch implications to developing from negative on UK-based cruise operator P&O Princess Cruises.

UK - P3 Corporate Pensions has acquired Creation, a corporate pensions product from Wealth Management Software.

UK - Members of defined contribution schemes could end up with a "meagre" pension if they do not keep up healthy levels of contributions, according to KPMG Pensions.