Regions

ASIA - The assets of Asia Pacific sovereign pension funds swelled by 20% last year to US$1.8trn, according to Watson Wyatt.

GLOBAL - OECD countries have been warned of the growing importance of developments in non-OECD economies, as they attempt to ride out the effects of a "near-perfect storm".

INCLUDING: UK - Watson Wyatt consultant appointments; IRELAND - ACE launches Irish trustee protection product; UK - Henderson announces CIO; UK - Inflation reaches 9% for pensioners

GLOBAL - Total assets of the world's largest 300 pension funds grew by over 14% in 2007 to around US$12trn, according to Watson Wyatt.

GLOBAL - A correction in the commodities market is giving pension funds a chance to increase their allocation to the asset class, providing additional portfolio diversification and inflation hedges.

EUROPE - A growing move by pension funds towards hedge fund replication has prompted a warning they could be missing out on the returns offered by funds of hedge funds.

US - The California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) has criticised institutional fund manager Hermes over poor performance in one of its portfolios.

GLOBAL - Transition managers are being pushed into the role of asset managers as investors dissatisfied with their active managers increasingly choose to park their funds with the service providers.

EUROPE - The number of retirees relative to workers in the EU27 is set to double by 2060, according to data from EU statistical office Eurostat.

GLOBAL - A standardised international policy of fee disclosure has been mooted to help pension plan participants become better informed about defined contribution (DC) plan investment and administrative services.