News

M&B suitors discuss gag deal; Barclays mulls US investment banking expansion; Credit Suisse suspends staff after asset writedown; Alliance & Leicester posts one-third drop in profits

US - Institutional plans managed positive returns for 2007, despite negative results in Q4, according to a Mercer report.

GLOBAL - Investor confidence rose 3.5 points last month to a global average of 73.0, according to the State Street Global Investor Confidence Index.

US - The City and County of San Francisco Employees' Retirement System (SFERS) is seeking an alternative investment consultant.

UK - The London Borough of Lewisham pension fund is looking for a global equities and fund of hedge funds manager following a portfolio shake up.

CHANGES in the corporate bond index have caused a ‘considerable but artificial' improvement of around £12bn in the way pension schemes look in FTSE 100 accounts.

AP Information Services has been sold to Waterlow Law & Regulatory for an undisclosed sum.

AUSTRALIA - The promoter of a superannuation rollover scheme has appeared in the Brisbane Magistrates Court.

CANADA - The union oversight committee of Canada's Prince Edward Island (PEI) government employee pension fund has been reduced from three members to one by the province's government.

UK - Independent pension trustee Law Debenture has issued the latest in its series of Pensions Essentials, aimed at helping trustees identify and manage the major risks to a defined benefit (DB) pension scheme.