United Kingdom

UK - Ian Marcus is taking over as chairman of the Investment Property Forum having been vice-chairman to Steven Fogel for the past year.

UK - Three new members have been elected to the Pensions Management Institute council.

UK - Britannic Asset Management has rejected claims that "blindfolded monkeys" would give schemes a better measure of return than peer-group benchmarks or market-weighted indices.

UK - Imperial Tobacco Pension Fund has replaced its Edis pensions administration system with Heywood's AXISe administration and payroll system.

UK - Value in equities will return once central banks prove they have the ability to prevent deflation, Schroders claims.

UK - Abbey National's specialist pension provider James Hay has launched a consultancy division to offer actuarial and advisory services to corporate clients.

UK - The JPMorgan Fleming Defined Contribution Industry Survey - carried out with IPN's sister title, Professional Pensions, looks to gauge trends in both defined contribution and defined benefit pension provision among UK employers.

UK - Property limited partnerships outperformed direct investment by institutions and listed companies in the past year, research from ABN Amro shows.

UK - Trade unions fear the government's age discrimination proposals could force staff to work even longer to earn a livable pension.

WALES - Welsh companies which fail to provide stakeholder pensions are being targeted by regulators this month.