United Kingdom

UK - Global indices provider MSCI has completed the acquisition of risk management specialist Barra, following shareholder approval from the firm.

UK - Equitable Life's former chief executive and actuary, Christopher Headdon, has been banned from working in a management role until May 2010.

UK - James Hay Consultancy has extended its pensions simplification guarantee to small self-administered schemes.

UK - Companies launching property funds for pension plan investors must ensure they have effective risk control programmes in place, a software expert warns.

UK - Barclays Global Investors is outsourcing the custody, administration and accounting functions of its European business to JPMorgan Investor Services.

UK - Opposition peers will table a "large number" of amendments to moral hazard clauses in the Pensions Bill because government changes have not gone far enough.

UK - Insight Investment's clients have sold the freehold to the York-based property 35a Stonegate for £735,000.

UK - Clerical Medical is allocating an extra 1% to new stakeholder and personal pension plans for the next three months.

UK - The Investment Management Association has launched a new sector for funds investing in zero dividend preference shares previously categorised in the UK "other bond sector".

UK - More than half of employees pay less than 6% of their salary into their defined contribution schemes, a new survey shows.