United Kingdom

UK - With-profits Additional Voluntary Contribution (AVC) pension funds have continued to chisel down their equities exposure over the past year, new research shows.

UK - Watson Wyatt is to stop charging fund managers an annual subscription fee for appearing at its conferences in order to dispel perceptions that it operates a "pay to play" policy.

UK - Schemes will have to sign a "book of blank cheques" to provide final salary benefits for Pension Protection Fund staff, the House of Lords heard.

UK - The 1.9bn Lothian Pension Fund has appointed Goldman Sachs Asset Management to run a £100m US equities mandate.

UK - Simplification Report author Alan Pickering has dismissed the government's Pensions Bill as a counterproductive piece of legislation which will make pensions less viable.

UK - The fall in final salary provision makes the need for retirement saving greater than ever, a senior consultant claims.

UK - Young workers are suffering from stress, relationship problems and loss of friends because they have limited access to flexible working practices, a new study shows.

UK - Hedge funds outperformed equities and bonds in April, according to global indices provider MSCI.

UK - Pension funds returned an average of 1.5% in the first quarter of 2004, latest figures from the WM Company reveal.

UK - Employers who rely solely on technology to promote their benefit schemes will suffer very low take-up rates, John Scott & Partners warns.