United Kingdom

UK - The West Ferry Printers Pension Scheme trustees have agreed to a £130m (US$241m) buy-in deal with Norwich Union.

UK - Industry commentators have broadly welcomed the Pensions Regulator's decision to scrap plans to use mortality assumptions as a funding trigger.

UK - Pension fund commitment to commercial real estate has remained undimmed despite market turbulence, latest research shows.

UK - The government must introduce automatic increases to pension savings when member's salaries rise if people are to have a decent standard of living in retirement, BlackRock says.

UK - The use of derivatives by UK pension funds to hedge risk has fallen significantly in 2008 because of the ongoing credit crisis, Watson Wyatt has said.

UK - Mortality assumptions will not be used as a primary trigger for funding plans, The Pensions Regulator said today.

UK - Defined benefit (DB) schemes ended last week with a £33bn (US$60.8bn) surplus but remain volatile, Watson Wyatt has said.

UK - The creation of the giant banking group following the merger of Lloyds TSB (Lloyds) and HBOS will have little immediate effect on pension fund portfolios, it has been claimed.

UK - The Pensions Regulator has issued guidelines on effective communication with pension scheme members.

UK - Legal & General (L&G) has defended changes to its defined benefit (DB) scheme following criticism from union Unite.