Regulation

IRELAND - The Irish government unveiled a set of sweeping reforms to the country's pension system which include raising the state retirement age to 68 and the introduction of a mandatory scheme for all workers in the coming years.

UK/NETHERLANDS - The Enterprise Chamber of the Amsterdam Court of Appeals has rejected a request by Hermes and the Universities Superannuation Scheme to investigate Canon's tender offer worth €730m (US$998.4m) to buy Océ.

Liberal Democrat pensions spokesman Steve Webb talks to Tom Selby about being the party who asks the awkward questions.

The government should tackle the Pension Protection Fund's £1.2bn deficit by halting automatic increases in compensation payments, a consultant says.

BT's rivals have attacked the telecoms giant for seeking to charge customers to help plug its £8.8bn scheme deficit.

EUROPE - The current version of the Alternative Investment Fund Managers (AIFM) directive does not have the qualified majority support in the in the European Council (EC) needed to pass, a document by the EC showed.

Courts in Canada and the US have blocked The Pensions Regulator's attempts to seek £2.1bn from Nortel Networks on behalf of the struggling UK pension scheme.

US - The American International Group (AIG) has agreed to pay US$8m to settle a lawsuit launched by the Oregon Public Employees Retirement System (PERS), which accused the insurer of poor disclosure and bid-rigging.

The Pensions Regulator looks set to tighten its grip on registered independent trustee companies following a number of high profile governance failures, industry players say.

The FSA has ordered RSM Tenon Financial Services to undertake a review of its pension switching business going back almost four years amid concerns about the suitability of advice.