United Kingdom

UK - Most fund managers feel that longer-term mandates would change important aspects of how fund management houses work, new research shows.

UK - Global real estate posted returns of 6.2% in January 2004, as demonstrated by the European Public Real Estate Association/National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (EPRA/ NAREIT) Global Real Estate Index.

UK - Morley Fund Management has strengthened its team with the appointment of Upkar Kambo (pictured) as fixed income quantitative analyst.

UK - UK pension funds would be better off by around £44bn if they had stuck to the allocation of 20% to commercial property, the norm in the 1980s, a Pricewaterhouse-Coopers seminar in London was told.

UK - Opposition parties have attacked the government over the growing number of pensioners being means-tested and claim the current system is seriously flawed.

UK - Allocating more than 4% of assets to the government's public private partnership initiatives would help schemes match their liabilities, Axa Investment Managers claims.

UK - Axa Investment Managers' profits rose 20% to £120m for 2003 - its fourth consecutive year of growth. Axa IM also reported a £16bn increase in assets under management to £195bn.

UK - Corporate governance heavyweight Morley Fund Management is considering plans to disclose its voting records publicly.

UK - Co-operative Insurance Society claims that it has become the world's first insurance company to give clients a say in the development of governance and socially responsible investment policies.

UK - Unions have attacked high street retail giant WHSmith for reintroducing pension contributions for staff while giving the new chief executive a £1.2m "golden hello".