United Kingdom

UK - Chancellor Gordon Brown's commitment to increasing long dated bond issuance has been viewed as insufficient within the pensions industry.

UK - The Transport and General Workers union (T&G) has accused British Airways of thrusting the £1bn pension deficit burden onto staff and pledged to resist the changes in pension benefits for its members.

UK - The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) will now consult on the way pension transfer values are calculated for defined benefit occupational schemes.

UK - The £375m Dumfries & Galloway local authority pension fund has awarded passive equities mandates together worth £240m, previously managed by Deutsche Asset Management, to State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) and Legal & General.

UK - Chancellor Gordon Brown has laid down plans that "could" allow two-thirds of gilts issued in 2006/07 to be long-dated, easing the supply shortage for pension funds wanting to match their liabilities more closely.

UK - The £400m Barnet Borough Council pension fund has terminated Henderson Global Investors from a £200m balanced mandate.

UK - Investec Asset Management is to launch a currency overlay programme within the next six months on the back of the recruitment of Thanos Papasavvas (pictured) to head up its currency management team.

UK - The asset allocation of UK-based defined benefit pension schemes is becoming increasingly polarised, according to Andy Green, head of investment strategy at Mercer Investment Consulting.

UK - Pinsent Masons has raided Eversheds' entire pensions team in Leeds, just weeks after Eversheds nabbed five Pinsent Masons staff from its Manchester office.

UK - The government launched a public consultation across Britain on Saturday ahead of its forthcoming white paper on pensions reform.