United Kingdom

UK - Swiss fund manager Pictet & Cie has hired Morley Fund Management's European equities chief, Jeffrey Currington.

UK - Axa Investment Managers has enhanced its equity research team with the addition of Vincent Houteville and Katia Levy-Thevenon as analysts to cover the financials sector.

UK - State Street Global Advisors' (SSgA) active UK and European equity strategies outperformed their respective indices by approximately 200 basis points in the second quarter of 2001.

UK - Lazard Asset Management (LAM) has appointed Andreas Huebner as its new chief executive.

UK - Peter Baker, ex-pensions manager of Safeway, has joined pension fund software developer Euraplan as an executive director.

UK - The Government is being unsympathetic to employers and trustees in the way it is trying to impose a voluntary code of practice for pension schemes, according to law firm Pinsent Curtis Biddle.

UK - Hermes Focus Asset Management (HFAM) has expanded its management team and launched a management reorganisation in preparation for major expansion.

UK - The East Sussex County Council Pension Fund is seeking a global custodian to oversee around £1bn in pension fund assets.

UK - Top fund managers and pension funds look set to lose their stakes in Railtrack as a result of the High Court's decision to transfer management of the company to the private sector.

UK - About one third of employers may not have met the deadline to set up a stakeholder pension scheme incurring hefty fines, according to the Association of British Insurers (ABI).