News

GLOBAL - The volume of securities lending activity fell in 2009, but the fees raked in for the securities being lent increased over the past year as borrowers focused on hard-to-borrow securities, Data Explorers Consulting found.

SWITZERLAND/ITALY/UK - Swisscanto is planning a move into the Italian pension market after a recent expansion into the UK, a company official said.

CANADA - The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board has poured C$400m (US$375m) into a private equity fund of funds that will invest in Canadian small-mid sized companies.

SPAIN - The Spanish government denied it planned to increase the number of contributory years needed to retire, but said it would continue with plans to raise the pension age by two years.

The Bank of England has kept interest rates at 0.5% and frozen its quantitative easing programme.

Liberty International has insured its defined benefit pension scheme liabilities with Pension Insurance Corporation in a £61m deal.

US - Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner showed support for pension funding relief at a House Ways and Means Committee hearing yesterday. The news comes as Mercer reports a 400% increase in company contributions for 2010.

Liberty offloads pension fund; AA union to ballot members on pension offer

Here it is. The shortlist for this year's UK Pensions Awards 2010.

Government plans to tackle the complex issue of guaranteed minimum pension equalisation is a "practically impossible" task for trustees, a consultant warns.