United Kingdom

UK - Pension funds want drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline to explain why its chief executive's pay package is rising by £2.5m while the firm's share price is falling sharply.

UK - Morley Fund Management has appointed Douglas Crawshaw to its property team.

UK - Corporate bonds and mortgage-backed securities are poised to gain from an impending economic recovery, spurred by interest rate cuts in the US.

UK - Winterthur Life, the UK life and pensions arm of Credit Suisse, has appointed Laurence Toft as a business development manager.

UK - Beleaguered insurer Equitable Life is on the brink of insolvency.

UK - A survey by the London School of Economics for international law firm DLA has discovered that despite an increasingly aggressive regulatory environment UK company directors have little idea of the risks and liabilities they face.

UK - Supermarket giant J. Sainsbury has seen its FRS17 pensions deficit balloon from £368m at the end of March to £1.1bn, City analysts claim.

EUROPE/UK - The Netherlands' ABN Amro Mellon Global Securities Services held its inaugural UK client and industry educational conference on 25 September in London.

UK - Trade unionists are threatening to take legal action against City fund managers if accusations that they have "bled pension fund clients dry" can be proved.

UK - Over half of all final salary pension schemes are now closed to new entrants or frozen, a study by the Association of Consulting Actuaries reveals.