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GERMANY - Watson Wyatt has appointed Torsten Kopke to lead its investment consulting practice in Germany.

AUSTRIA - The man charged with overseeing Austria's capital market reforms, Richard Schenz, has called the country's third pillar Zukunftsvorsorge a "success", but said work still needs to be done to make it more attractive.

GERMANY - Germany's AAA credit rating is jeopardised by its unsustainable budget, in part due to its pension spending, claims the Green Party.

SWITZERLAND - A majority of the top management at Swisscanto's actuarial arm have left the Swiss fund provider and asset manager in the wake of its acquisition of the Swiss pension fund consulting business of PricewaterhouseCoopers.

SWITZERLAND - The burden of pension liabilities could negatively impact the credit rating of several Swiss local governments, a new report by Standard & Poor's has warned.

SWITZERLAND - Swiss pension funds reduced their allocations to domestic bonds and equities during the first quarter of 2005 in exchange for foreign bonds and equities, according to Credit Suisse Asset Management.

SWITZERLAND - Swiss pension funds that are currently underfunded should adopt a more "risk-averse" strategy by investing heavily in bonds, eschewingequities, according to a leading Swiss investment consultant.

SWITZERLAND - A bitter conflict of interest debate has broken out in the Swiss market with some investment consultants standing accused of accepting payments to put asset managers on long lists and in some cases, even shortlists.

SWITZERLAND- -The Swiss Federation of Trade Unions is calling for a guaranteed minimum pension of CHF3000 (e1,933) a month for retirees.

GERMANY - Fortis Investments has acquired a 25.1% stake in the German entity Versiko, a Duesseldorf-based asset management company.