United Kingdom

UK - Employers need to spend time and money on communication to increase take-up rates in defined contribution plans, Winterther Life says.

UK - Nearly three-quarters of IFAs do not believe that Green Paper reforms will increase retirement savings, a survey by The Exchange shows.

UK - Watson Wyatt is to end its actuarial operations for local authority pension funds.

UK - Supermarket giant Tesco has revealed a £540m FRS17 deficit in its £1.5bn final salary scheme.

UK - The Co-operative Insurance Society has appointed Nicola Donnelly as investment analyst in the society's ethically screened unit trust, Environ.

UK - Towers Perrin has laid off 10 people from its financial planning group, including group head Robert Ivey.

UK - Two seminars on how to close or wind-up pension schemes for both solvent and insolvent employers are being held in July.

UK - Schemes will be able to save up to £900m in trading costs as part of an FSA clampdown on fund managers and soft commission costs.

UK - Bedlam Asset Management's UK equities fund has returned approximately 0.2% for the four months to the end of March.

UK - Retail giant Boots - which stunned the pensions industry by its 100% move to bonds - is considering a switch back to equities, it can be revealed.