United Kingdom

UK - Alternative investments will become increasingly important to local authority pension schemes, delegates heard at the Local Authority Pension Fund Alternative Investment Conference in London.

UK - A government service which enables pension schemes to provide a forecast of state benefits for members will be officially launched at The Pension Show.

UK - A one-off payment to the dependant of an SAS soldier killed on duty has averted a test case on pension sharing for non-married partners.

UK - Charles Russell law firm has appointed solicitor Kris Weber as associate with overall responsibility for the firm's pension practice.

UK - Pension funds are being urged to transfer assets from equities to cash in the wake of big falls on world stock markets.

UK - Two schemes for railway manufacturers are undergoing a heavyweight review. Bombardier Transportation said it had been obliged to have an actuarial valuation of both its UK schemes, and that an announcement would be made early in 2002.

UK - Peter Jeffcote, head of the UK employment, pensions and benefits (EPB) team at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (FBD) is to take over from Ian Terry as a managing partner of the firm.

UK - Deep-seated industry concerns over the success of stakeholder have been highlighted in an internal ABI document.

UK - State Street Global Advisors and Friends Ivory & Sime (FIS) have announced a strategic alliance to provide index-tracking funds with a socially responsible investment (SRI) overlay.

UK - The government has appointed former chairman of the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF), Alan Pickering, to lead a review of pensions legislation, aimed at cutting red tape.