Regions

US - The recovery in equity markets last year helped to improve the funded status of US pension funds, adding an estimated US$180bn to balance sheets, according to a leading pensions' consultancy.

US/UK - PIMCO is reducing its holdings of UK and US government bonds because of fears over increased borrowing and the withdrawal of quantitative easing programmes.

GLOBAL - Featuring news from the US, France, UK, and the Netherlands.

US - Goldman Sachs Asset Management said it would not raise the base fee on its Global Tactical Asset Allocation fund back to its original level until the start of next year.

Dear reader, Global Pensions' daily news alert will not be publishing from December 23 until after the New Year.

As the year winds to a close, Global Pensions takes a look back at the top 10 most read news stories of the year.

Congratulations to all those providers nominated by their clients for the Global Pensions Awards 2010!

US - Morgan Stanley has hired former Merrill Lynch veteran Gregory Fleming as president of its investment management unit.

EUROPE/CENTRAL ASIA - Pension funds in Europe and Central Asia should provide pension increases in line with cost of living indexes instead of wages to make the systems more sustainable, the World Bank said.

GLOBAL - Exchange traded funds are generally more expensive than many institutional index products and an unattractive long-term investment option for most pension funds, Watson Wyatt claimed.