United Kingdom

UK - Independent financial advisers are placing too much emphasis on the security of investment returns when advising on transfer requests from final salary schemes, Mark Lloyd & Co claims.

UK - Bridgewell Securities has appointed John Dean as an equity research analyst.

UK - Institutional investors have increased their weighting in property by 5% as equity markets have fallen, research by DTZ shows.

UK - Threadneedle Investments has been awarded a £20m UK equity mandate by the new DuPontSA Pension Scheme.

UK - More people in their 60s will need to work if the pensions timebomb is to be defused.

UK - Standard Life has cut maturity payouts on its with-profits policies by around 10% to reflect the downturn in equity investment markets.Its final bonus rates were last adjusted in February.

UK - The over-60s make up 21% of the UK's population, new figures from the Office for National Statistics based on the 2001 census show.

UK - WestAM has hired Richard Fairgreave, Jose Morales and Brian Deacon to its global emerging markets team, based in London.

UK - Standard & Poor's has revised its outlook on Legal & General from negative to stable following shareholder approval for the firm's £800m rights issue.

UK - Annuity rates have more than halved in the past 12 years, new figures from the Annuity Bureau reveal.