United Kingdom

UK - Mercer Human Resource Consulting has appointed Ray Martin as a principal within its client management team effective 3 April.  

UK - Merrill Lynch Investment Managers (MLIM) has appointed Thomas Krey as head of investment communications.

UK - Richard Wilson has been appointed as head of equities at F&C Asset Management.

UK - Henderson Global Investors has appointed Jennifer Ockwell as a client director within its European institutional business team.

UK - A significant 85% of people lack the confidence to choose how their pension savings are invested, a poll by the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) has found.

UK - The national smoking ban in public places, which is expected to add £20bn to company pension deficits, could pressure the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) to push for mortality rate assumptions to be disclosed by companies reporting...

UK - The trustees of the Thomas Cook Pension Plan have dropped Watson Wyatt as the investment consultant to their £400m UK pension scheme and appointed Aon Consulting.

UK - Amicus is to begin a ballot of its local authority pension scheme members over proposed changes to their scheme - less than a year after the same members voted 7-1 in favour of strike action.

UK - BNP Paribas Securities Services has appointed Kay Dennis as a global relationship manager within the institutional investor coverage team.

UK - The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has called for concessions for small businesses in new pension reform proposals put forward as an alternative to the Pensions Commission's flagged National Pensions Savings Scheme (NPSS).