Global

Beleaguered telecoms giant Marconi has confirmed that its £2.5bn pension scheme has £800m worth of investment mandates to be invested in UK equities.

Scheme specific benchmarks have received heavy backing from fund managers, who have welcomed news that most UK pension schemes now use them.

Global hedge funds witnessed a US$8.4bn* surge in assets in Q2 - surpassing the figure for entire assets in 2000, and posting the biggest single quarterly net inflow since Tass Research first conducted its studies in 1994.

The UK occupational pensions regulator plans to name and shame pension schemes in breach of the Pensions Act could begin as early as next month.

Chairman of Alliance Capital International Frank Savage is leaving to start his own firm, Savage Holdings.

Germany's Deka Bank, the mutual fund provider and retail bank with EUR135.2bn (£83.5bn) of assets under management, has launched five investment funds aimed at institutional investors.

The NZ$3.5bn (US$1.44bn) Government Superannuation Fund (GSF) in New Zealand hopes to confirm its advisors by the end of August.

The UK government has been warned by one of its favoured think-tanks that its pension policy appears to have "unravelled to a significant degree".

Aon is up for review at the UK's Audit Commission Pension Scheme but the global consultant has gathered a new brief at book publishers HarpersCollins.

HSBC Asset Management has strengthened its equity team with two more hires in London.