United Kingdom

UK - The discount rate used to calculate scheme liabilities in company accounts should be a risk-free rate, an Accounting Standards Board report confirms.

UK - Asset management firm Gartmore has confirmed it intends to float on the London Stock Exchange in mid-December.

GLOBAL - More than half of pension funds in Europe and the Americas have implemented some sort of liability driven investment (LDI) strategy in their portfolios, a poll by fiduciary manager SEI found.

UK - The Bank of England would like to see more uptake of index linked gilts by institutional investors, but appetite for the paper does not seem to be there.

UK - Uncertainty in inflation assumptions may have led FTSE 350 companies to collectively overstate or understate their pension liabilities by as much as £40bn (US$59.4bn), according to Mercer.

UK - Senior correspondent Giovanni Legorano speaks to Steve Delo former chairman of the Pensions Management Institute/Independent Trustee, PAN Governance and Michael Chatterton, head of settlement solutions at Watson Wyatt.

UK - Trustees and sponsor companies should look at the company's defined benefit scheme as if it were a subsidiary of the sponsor company, Watson Wyatt head of settlement solutions Michael Chatterton said.

UK - The CDC Pensions Scheme has completed a £370m (US$621.6m) buy-in with Rothesay Life.

UK - Hermes Fund Managers has hired a six strong global equities team from Fortis.

UK/Spain - A merger deal between British Airways and Iberia, the Spanish airline, could be terminated should BA be unable to reach a funding arrangement with its scheme trustees.