Global

US - Marsh & McLennan chief Brian Duperreault has urged treasury secretary Henry Paulson to take action to bridge the short-term pension funding crisis through a set of proposals to help companies with defined benefit schemes.

GLOBAL - European and US real estate opportunities are likely to emerge from the current economic crisis, allowing investors and pension funds to acquire assets which produce highly competitive returns, Invesco says.

RUSSIA - Not even the so-called BRIC countries survived unscathed the credit crisis, despite performing well above western countries in recent years, according to participants of a recent roundtable in Moscow.

GLOBAL - MSCI Barra will introduce a number of changes to the MSCI Global Investable Market Indices, following its November 2008 Semi-Annual Index Review.

GLOBAL - Worldwide ETF assets under management have fallen by 19.3% this year, according to a report from Barclays Global Investors.

INCLUDING: ITALY - bfinance to open Italian office; AUSTRALIA - SCT gets two new members; US - DC plans feature auto enrolment; UK - Watson Wyatt appointments

GLOBAL - Russell Investments has announced its Australian chief executive will be moved to London to take charge of the firm's international business operations.

GLOBAL - The economic downturn is no excuse to delay urgent negotiations over climate change agreements, some of the world's leading investors and pension funds have said.

GLOBAL - Mercer has launched a 'carbon footprint' analysis for institutional investors' portfolios, which can be compared to a chosen benchmark such as the FTSE All-Share, S&P 500 or Russell 1000.

INCLUDING: US - Dept of Labor sues Vigilance; SWEDEN - Carnegie introduces strong action programme; EUROPE - Montgomery rejoins LaSalle; SAUDI ARABIA - Credit Suisse expands presence in Saudi