United Kingdom

UK - Standard Life is looking to the US for guidance on behavioural finance and auto-enrollment as the UK prepares to implement the National Pension Savings Scheme (NPSS).

UK - Amaranth Advisors, the ill-fated US hedge fund that lost US$6bn on investments in natural gas in September, has got rid of five members of staff from its London office.

UK - Independent broadcast company ITV is to close its final salary pension scheme to existing members in a bid to lighten the pressure of its £325m pension deficit, media reports have claimed.

UK - Schroders Asset Management reported third quarter profits of £48.3m, up slightly on the £46.1m achieved over the same period last year.

UK - US$15bn fund of hedge funds Blackstone Alternative Asset Management (BAAM) has appointed Gideon Berger to head up its London office and oversee the firm's interests in Europe, the Middle East and the Pacific Rim.

UK - Of the employers who currently provide defined benefit (DB) pensions, 46% do not expect to provide any staff or executives with DB pension provision within the next five years, the second Alexander Forbes Financial Services' pension confidence survey...

UK - The new Companies Bill could create an "unnecessary and costly" burden on pension funds, warned Tim Currell, senior investment consultant at Watson Wyatt.

UK - Paternoster announced it has taken on the pensions assets of the Cuthbert Heath Family Plan (CHFP), in a deal said to be worth around £10m.

UK - Auto strategies for defined contribution (DC) pension plans are becoming increasingly popular with UK pension funds, consultant Watson Wyatt has claimed.

UK - Multi-manager IMS has begun consulting with its clients over the unbundling of the fees it pays to asset managers.