United Kingdom

UK - Overall pension fund equity weightings fell by 2% in 2005 because of continued reductions in exposure to UK equities, a survey has found.  

UK - The British governent lacks transparency over the way it calculates public pension liabilities claimed Stephen Yeo, senior consultant at Watson Wyatt.

UK - Peter Harrison (pictured), former global CIO of Deutsche Asset Management, has joined MPC Investors as chief executive.

UK - The £2.4bn Lothian Pension Fund has awarded an £800m active currency overlay mandate to three managers.

UK - The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has reported an increase in both individual pension saving and employer-sponsored stakeholder pensions for the fourth quarter of 2005, but warned against industry complacency.

UK - Raj Mody (pictured) has joined PricewaterhouseCoopers as a partner in its UK pensions practice, having spent many years with Hewitt Associates.

UK - Syndicate Asset Management (SAM) has announced that its subsidiary Ashcourt Holdings has acquired LAinvest Limited, a UK-based fund manager, for £1.2m.

UK - Proposed new contracting-out rebates for employers sponsoring DB pension schemes would fall around £2bn short, more than double the figure touted by Mercer HR Consulting last week, according to Hymans Robertson, who accused government of not listening...

UK - BlueBay Asset Management has appointed David Zobel (pictured) as a principal and head of hedge fund strategies, a newly created role.

SCOTLAND - Fraser Smart (pictured) has left Hymans Robertson after eight years to join Buck Consultants as principal and senior consulting actuary.