United Kingdom

UK - Ex-Prudential executive Mark Wood has secured £500m of financing from backers including Deutsche Bank for his new venture, Paternoster, which will accquire defined benefit pension schemes from mid market UK companies.

UK - The West Midlands Pension Fund has designs on lowering its exposure to emerging markets over recent concerns arising from capacity constraints.

UK - Three quarters of pension funds made changes to their schemes ahead of today's A-Day legislation changes so that members could take higher cash lump sums, Mercer Human Resource Consulting has claimed.

UK - Watson Wyatt has been appointed by brewery operator InBev UK, to manage its defined benefit pensions administration and accounting functions.

UK - Lord Adair Turner has staunchly defended the Pension Commission's proposal for a National Pensions Savings Scheme (NPSS), claiming that in the long term it will be cheaper than the models proposed by the Association of British Insurers' (ABI) and...

UK - The UK pensions industry has offered a generally positive reaction to the third and final Pension Commission report on pension reform in the UK, with the majority of comments in favour of the commission's premise that a national automatic occupational...

UK - The Pension Protection Fund (PPF) levy for 2006/7 could be reduced by £150m because favourable investment markets knocked down pension fund deficits at FTSE 100 companies by a third in March, Watson Wyatt has claimed.

UK - Hermes Private Equity (HPE) has acquired bingo operator Mayfair Gaming from Risk Capital Partners for an undisclosed sum, believed by industry sources to be between £26m and £28m.

UK - Lane Clark and Peacock (LCP) has added to its pensions actuarial practice, in particular the international and M&A teams with the appointment of three new partners; Adam Poulson, Clive Wellsteed and Richard Pinder.

UK - New proposals that allow asset managers to set up non-occupational registered pensions schemes next year will level the playing field between the various financial services firms, said Investment Management Association (IMA) chief executive Richard...