Towers Watson

Spain has used the financial crisis to reform its pensions system, yet fears run high that the changes do not go far enough, writes Toby Lewis

GERMANY - Germany's largest public pension fund, Bayerische Versorgungskammer, is to invest at least €1.2bn ($1.7bn) in individual hedge funds via Man Group's managed account platform.

SOUTH AFRICA - Towers Watson has doubled its stake in South African actuarial and employee benefits firm Fifth Quadrant and appointed Nigel Biggs as managing consultant in the country.

Lord Hutton could slash the cost of pensions already owed to public sector workers by breaking the link with future pay growth, Towers Watson says.

Members could end up cross-subsidising those with high pay rises as a result of the "scheme pays" annual allowance option.

More than two-thirds of private sector employees are not enrolled in a workplace pension scheme, statistics reveal.

Towers Watson; EIOPA; ATP; State Street; Janus Capital Group Inc; Transamerica Retirement Services; Mercer; T. Rowe Price; QIC

GLOBAL - Assets in the world's 13 largest pension markets hit a new high of $26trn at the end of 2010, up 12% during the year, new research by Towers Watson finds.

UK institutional pension funds' equity allocation has plummeted by a fifth in the past decade - but remains the highest in the world, according to a global study.

US - Towers Watson has named six investment heads, including one to the new position of head of strategy for North America.