Regions

GLOBAL - UBS today announced several new senior management changes, but said the moves were directed by "a number of differences of opinion", and not financial or operational concerns.

EUROPE - Cern, the European organisation for nuclear research based in Geneva, has appointed MFS International, a subsidiary of MFS Investment Management, to run a CHF50m (£21.3m) active European equity mandate.

GLOBAL - The global slowdown is set to continue into next year, but the recovery should be well in place by the second half of 2002, according to Britannic Asset Management's (BAM) market outlook for next year.

GLOBAL - Anti-poverty group War on Want is urging pension funds to be more aware of their investment in multinational corporations, whose labour practices undermine attempts to eradicate poverty.

GLOBAL - Corporate bond defaults have soared to record levels, with 196 issuers defaulting on approximately US$107bn of debt through December 7, 2001, according to Standard & Poor's, the global rating agency.

SOUTH AFRICA - The R230bn ($23bn) Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF) has appointed Nedbank, a subsidiary of Nedcor, and State Street Bank and Trust Company as its custodians.

THE NETHERLANDS - The EUR13bn Pensioenfonds Metaalindustrie (PMI) has finalised its allocations following a move from a balanced to specialist approach.

EUROPE - William M Mercer has appointed Yvonne Sonsino as a European principal. Based in London, she will focus on advising a portfolio of multinational clients on international benefit issues.

GLOBAL - JPMorgan Investor Services announced yesterday the launch of Follow the Sun, a universal, client technology service support system that provides custody clients with technical and functional support in every time zone, 24 hours a day.

GLOBAL - Old Mutual Asset Managers (OMAM) has reached the final stage of its restructuring following the decision to merge the unit trust business of Gerrard into OMAM.