United Kingdom

UK - Conservative proposals for lifetime savings accounts would add yet another layer of complexity to pensions and potentially damage occupational schemes, Buck Consultants warns.

WALES - Powys County Council Pension Fund has sealed it new management roster and could start looking for a new actuary by April 2003.

UK/EUROPE - Amvescap-owned Invesco had moved Bob Yerbury to chief investment officer for Invesco UK.

UK - Morley Fund Management has made Peter Rains head of alternative investments in addition to his role as head of fixed income.

UK - State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) has hired Mahmoud El-Shaer as a credit portfolio manager, based in London.

UK - Radical proposals for pension reform have been outlined by the National Association of Pension Funds in a last ditch attempt to influence impending government legislation.

UK - GE Life has awarded the total mandate for the £850m equity element of the GE Pensions With Profits Fund to State Street Global Advisors.

UK - Pension funds will invest half their assets in bonds by 2020 as they battle to reduce risk levels, Watson Wyatt predicts.

UK - Defined contribution schemes can match and, in some cases, even better final salary plans, Hermes Pensions Management chief executive Tony Watson claims.

UK - Annual real estate returns averaged 12.2% over the five years to 2001 against 10.6% for large cap stocks, figures from property specialist LaSalle Investment Management show.