United Kingdom

UK - Engineering firm Morgan Crucible has rescued its UK pension schemes "from the verge of complete failure", reporting a surplus of £5.7m in its half year report.

UK - The mortality tables adopted by the Actuarial Profession lack a crucial allowance for how quickly life expectancy will increase in future, Hewitt Associates has warned.

UK - The pension deficits of Britain's blue chip companies have failed to improve despite record contributions of £12.1bn over the past year.

UK - Suzanne Ross has taken up the role of investment director at the £3.5bn London Pensions Fund Authority (LPFA), having spent the last four years as investment manager at the IBM pension fund.

UK - Less than half of companies have moved to reduce their risk rating and levy, while 45% simply did not know what they planned to do about it, a survey by pension consultants Entegria has found.

UK - Extending the term of the investment contract while maintaining a quarterly review focusing solely on performance will not change the short term behaviour of fund managers, a global paper on investors' views has found.

UK - Fidelity International has again expanded its multi-manager team with the appointment of Phil Morse to the newly-created role of business development director.

UK - The Ombudsman was right to accuse the government of maladministration regarding the pension leaflets issue, and it should now focus on finding an acceptable solution to those impacted, the Public Administration Select Committee (PASC) has claimed....

UK - Department store chain Debenhams is expected to take the unusual step of closing its fully funded £500m final salary scheme in November in a bid to protect itself against volatile investment returns.

UK - Paternoster has joined up with risk management adviser Jardine Lloyd Thompson Benefit Solutions (JLT) for actuarial support services and long term policy administration as it seeks to break into the DB buy-out market.