United Kingdom

UK/GLOBAL - The defined benefit section of the recently formed Cable & Wireless Worldwide Retirement Plan has £136m (US$195.8m) deficit, end of year results show.

UK - Final salary pension schemes are now ranked as the second biggest threat facing corporates, Aon Consulting said.

UK - The Queen today confirmed the coalition government will legislate for the phasing out of the default retirement age and set a timetable for raising the state pension age, depending on the outcome of a review.

UK - The coalition government will scrap the default retirement age "as soon as possible", pensions minister Steve Webb said.

UK/NETHERLANDS - Royal Bank of Scotland is nearing a deal to sell its European private equity portfolio to Alpinvest, a Dutch private equity fund owned by pension investors APG and PGGM, a person close to matter said.

UK - British Airways will present plans for a restructure of its defined benefit schemes to The Pensions Regulator next month after it concluded talks with trade unions over its £3.7bn (US$5.3bn) deficit.

UK - The new coalition government has confirmed auto-enrolment into workplace pension schemes will go ahead.

UK - Cutting back public sector pensions would lead to an almost immediate £8bn (US$11.45bn) cost to the taxpayer, the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy said.

CHINA/UK - China's National Council for Social Security Fund (NCSSF) has awarded an active European equity mandate to Newton, a BNY Mellon Asset Management unit.

UK - The Local Government Pension Scheme is currently unaffordable and will wither away unless radical action is taken, delegates heard.