United Kingdom

UK - Gordon Brown has been accused of attempting to blackmail Tony Blair to drop Adair Turner's revolutionary pension reform proposals.

UK - Government should look to use public-private partnerships to address taxpayer exposure to defined benefit longevity risk, Swiss Re says.

UK/GLOBAL - J.P. Morgan Asset Management has hired Mike O'Brien, BlackRock's former head of institutional business for EMEA, as its global head of the institutional client group.

CANADA/UK - Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Onex Corp. have garnered sufficient shareholder support for their £2.89bn ($4.4bn) purchase of Tomkins Plc.

UK - Two-fifths of larger employers are considering levelling down pension provision when auto-enrolment comes into force, Association of Consulting Actuaries research finds.

UK - More than a third of FTSE100 firms cannot plug their pension scheme deficits using current discretionary cash flow, KPMG warns.

UK - The Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) should increase its retirement age to 66 and limit pensionable pay to £75,000 ($115,000) a year, the London Pensions Fund Authority (LPFA) said in its submission to the Public Service Pensions Commission....

UK - The London Pensions Fund Authority is considering teaming up with other schemes to help improve its shareholder engagement in emerging markets.

UK - Royal London group chief executive Mike Yardley is planning to step down to focus on helping the industry tackle future challenges.

UK - F&C Asset Management is due to complete its acquisition of Thames River Capital by 1 September following consent from the Financial Services Authority.