Regions

INCLUDING: UK - Brits miss out on tax relief; GLOBAL - S&P launches International Treasury Bond Index Series; UK - Pension Corp appoints general counsel; UK - Faith in property plummets

GLOBAL - Institutional investors have moved out of equity positions and are braced for a continuing slowdown through 2009, State Street global Markets (SSgM) said at an investment conference in Sydney, Australia, today.

GLOBAL - Expectations on institutional investors' allocation to private equity are likely to be depressed for the next six months, following a sharp decline in Q3 to the lowest quarterly total since 2005, according to a survey by Preqin.

GLOBAL - Fiduciary management has completely transformed the Dutch pension industry over the past three years, BlackRock says.

INCLUDING: GLOBAL - IOPS appoints technical committee chairman; UK - Women still not saving enough for retirement; UK - Punter Southall promotions

GLOBAL - The International Organisation of Pension Supervisors (IOPS) has approved of a new set of guidelines for the supervisory assessment of pension funds.

INCLUDING: UK - Govt must take sensible approach to annuities; AUSTRALIA - Requirements for disclosure of short sales; UK - NAPF announces keynote speaker at trustee conference; NEW ZEALAND - Guardians help drive world-wide initiative on corporate behaviour;...

EUROPE - ETF Securities has announced the launch of Europe's first carbon exchange traded commodity (ETC), to be listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE).

ASIA - Global market turmoil has left credit availability in Asia largely unscathed, allowing Asian companies to continue to invest in their businesses, a study by Greenwich Associates has found.

GLOBAL - The CFA Institute Centre for Financial Market Integrity (Institute) today launched a manual providing an environmental, social and governance (ESG) framework with which to assess listed companies against those factors.