United Kingdom

UK - The £27bn BT Pension Scheme will invest £15m into a new small company stocks fund to be launched by investment manager Hermes.

UK - Norton Rose has enhanced its pensions team with the appointment of Alison Midgley as a consultant.

UK - The £600m Lloyd's Register of Shipping Superannuation Fund has appointed Norwich Union as its stakeholder provider.

UK - Trustees at the influential £3bn J. Sainsbury pension scheme have authorised a search for alternatives managers, decided on a stakeholder provider and chosen to increase the scheme's allocation to bonds.

SCOTLAND - Custodians The Bank of New York and Phildrew Nominees are also set to come under scrutiny at the Scottish Borders Council Superannuation Fund, as the £180m fund reviews its current manager set-up later this month.

UK - Independent actuarial firm Jagger & Associates has been appointed as investment advisers to the £2.8m Robertet (UK) pension scheme.

UK - Tesco's decision to issue £160m of 3.322% limited price index (LPI) bonds is significant for the pensions industry and a great boost to the cause of LPI bonds, according to Watson Wyatt.

UK - The £650m Bedfordshire County Council Pension Scheme has chosen a property fund manager to run a £50m property mandate.

UK - PIRC has condemned British Sky Broadcasting's report and accounts and called its directors "unaccountable" and in "breach of every corporate governance guideline that exists."

UK - The £83bn Local Government Pension Scheme is considering closing DB provision to new members of the 89 local authority schemes in England and Wales. The Department of Transport, Local Government and the Regions (DTLR) - which sets out local authority...