News

Morley and Aberdeen lost out in a portfolio restructure announced by union UNISON's £276.3m pension fund yesterday.

AUSTRALIA - Homeowners have been increasingly drawing on superannuation savings to get themselves out of a mortgage crisis, while non-bank lenders are disproportionately foreclosing on home loans, according to a new report.

UK - Analysis of the defined benefit (DB) pension landscape has shown the number of schemes in deficit, on a s179 basis, has fallen by 10% in the year up until 30 March 2007.

EUROPE - European companies with offshore pension funds could be breaking the law, according to Deloitte Belgium.

UK - Trinity Mirror has announced a £175m (US$350m) share buy-back scheme which will return capital to shareholders as part of the group's large scale reorganisation of its business.

UK - The UNISON Staff Pension Scheme has awarded Standard Life Investments a £140m (US$280.5m) UK and overseas active equity mandate.

Pensions reform minister Mike O'Brien has reiterated that personal accounts will work for the "large majority" of savers in the target group.

GLOBAL - Confidence in investments took a battering this month as institutional investors preferred to hold rather than sell investments, reflecting a pessimistic outlook on the health of the global economy and market fundamentals.

US - Employees of Morgan Stanley have filed a class action against the firm, claiming it breached its fiduciary responsibilities as plan sponsor of the 401(k) plan.

Trinity Mirror has agreed to make one-off payments worth £108m into its defined benefit pension schemes.