Global

New York State's pension fund may require government help due to the turmoil on Wall Street, according to the fund's trustee Carl McCall.

Mediolanum State Street SGRpA - the 1998 joint venture between State Street Global Advisors and Mediolanum - has made a EUR160m (£100m) initial close of its Italian private equity fund of funds - the first of its kind in Italy.

Electrocomponents' £180m UK based Pension Scheme will announce its decision on who will be its new global custodian on April 26.

Mellon Trust has been appointed by Nationwide Unit Trust Managers, the investment arm of the Nationwide Building Society, as third party administrator for its stakeholder pension product.

One in five small business in the UK will offer stakeholder pensions according to Legal & General, even though they do not have to.

Pension funds have lost over £50bn from their weightings in UK equities since the start of 2001 due to falls in the stock market.

The UK's Pensions Management Institute has elected Ian Eggleden as president, Tony Ashmore as vice president and Roger Cobley as honorary treasurer. The appointments take effect from the PMI Annual General Meeting on July 12.

The UK's Inland Revenue is to decide by October whether to offer concurrent members of additional voluntary contribution schemes a tax-free lump sum worth 25% of the fund.

Canadian pension plans put C$8.9bn (£4bn) into non-Canadian stocks and bonds in January, according to new figures from Statistics Canada.

Nomura Asset Management has won a $147m (£102m) Japanese Equity mandate from Sweden's seventh national pension fund, AP 7.