News

US/UK - BP , whose share price has dropped 29% since last year's Gulf of Mexico oil spill, will face opposition from two of the US's largest pension funds at the company's annual general meeting tomorrow.

Proposed European Union plans to make scheme funding rules uniform across member states could force UK firms to pay off deficits faster, Towers Watson warns.

Unilever announces end to final-salary pension scheme; Final salary pensions do not have to be consigned to history; Prudential admits £4m mistake affects 39,000 savers; Retirees forced to stay in work as affordability bites; Older workers delay retirement...

EUROPE - APG and Australian property firm Goodman have joined forces as part of a consortium making a €1.2bn ($1.7bn) bid for ProLogis European Properties.

Former Aviva Investors chairman Philip Scott will be the next president-elect of the Council of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.

GLOBAL - Infrastructure fund managers are focussing their investment strategies on transport and energy sectors, research shows.

AUSTRALIA - Self-managed super funds should have the same compensation processes as large super funds in the event of fraud, the industry association believes.

MALAYSIA - A new third pillar pension will be in place in Malaysia by year-end, prime minister Najib Razak said today.

UK - Unilever is to close its £5.5bn ($9bn) UK final salary scheme to existing members due to the fund's "increasingly unaffordable and unsustainable" costs.

NETHERLANDS - Dutch pension funds should lower costs and require external investment managers to give a full accounting of expenses to increase their capital in the long term, financial markets regulator AFM said.