News

Conservative Party plans to accelerate the increase in the state retirement age have been backed by senior industry figures.

The £5bn Co-operative Group Pension Scheme has appointed Mercer to provide it with implemented consulting services for its alternatives investments.

The volume of buyout transactions will rise to £5bn in 2010 as prices become lower and more stable, the Society of Pension Consultants predicts.

Aviva has brought its two UK businesses together under a single chief executive in a bid to serve customers better.

Tories to accelerate plan to raise state retirement age; Footsie pensions face £26bn longevity gap

ITALY - At least two Italian pension funds have dropped Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS) as custodian after Intesa San Paolo's (ISP) acquisition of the firm's custodian business led to conflicts of interests in their manager line-ups.

IRELAND - The average Irish managed pension fund returned 11.7% in the quarter ending September 30, but recent gains weren't enough to wipe out negative returns over the past year.

FRANCE - Fonds de Réserve pour les Retraites (FRR) has created an investment strategy committee that will help design, implement and monitor the scheme's asset allocation.

UK - Companies have continued to increase contributions to DC schemes despite the recession, a survey by Mercer revealed.

UK/US - Local authority pension schemes could be losing out on £125m (US$198.9m) by failing to participate in US class action lawsuits, research by Goal Group revealed.