The government will spend the Royal Mail Pension Plan’s £23bn in assets when the postal services bill becomes law.

The promotion of good corporate governance persuaded the Merseyside and North Yorkshire pension funds to spearhead action against the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS).

AIG will be the next major class action case of interest for UK pension funds, according to a leading litigation lawyer.

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has promised to launch a campaign to help more defined benefit (DB) schemes stay open for future accrual.

Pension Corporation has borrowed £50m from the beleaguered Royal Bank of Scotland to boost its solvency capital.

Trustees should be meeting more regularly to cope with increased governance demands, according to Hewitt Associates.

The Trades Union Congress (TUC) has published a guide to help trustees discuss investment strategy, executive remuneration, employment standards and climate change with companies.

Mark Tucker is stepping down as group chief executive of Prudential in September and will be replaced by the insurer’s chief financial officer, Tidjane Thiam.

Unhappiness with consultants is leading to a growth in chief investment officer (CIO) appointments, according to a leading recruitment consultant.

Macroeconomic imbalances, poor innovation and deficiencies in key bank capital and liquidity regulations are to blame for the current crisis, according to Adair Turner.

Friends Provident remains upbeat about its future life and pensions business, despite announcing a £871m pre-tax loss in its annual report.

More than £1bn of variable annuities were sold last year, more than doubling the value sold in 2007, an actuarial firm has revealed.

Concerns over the amount of management time spent meeting with trustees is leading to a spate of scheme mergers, according to Slaughter & May.

Less than half of UK employees believe their occupational pension is safe, according to research by JLT Benefit Solutions.

The strength of an scheme’s employer has become increasingly important during turbulent economic times. Pensions Week asks four key players for their views on employer covenants.

Consultation, consultation, consultation is the name of the game for the Personal Accounts Delivery Authority (PADA) at the moment. As we go further into our delivery phase, teams across the delivery authority have been working hard in preparation for future consultations documents, as well as assessing responses to those that have just finished.

Since the heyday of frontier markets in 2006 and 2007, the world has changed. Investors are now more focused on low risk strategies.

The future of the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) levy is a subject that concerns many National Association of Pension Fund (NAPF) members, however, few dispute the key role the PPF has to play in restoring confidence in pensions. Trying to achieve a balance between providing a safety net for scheme members and ensuring that the levy does not undermine good pension provision has proven to be a tricky problem for the PPF.

As financial markets tighten, companies must look at ways to ease the burden of their pension schemes during the recession, says Dafydd Bowen

My eight-year-old son Woody doesn’t trust building societies. He keeps his money in a Pringles tube under his bed instead. Best place, he says. As a pensions lawyer, and a concerned parent, how should I advise him?

With the burst of the debt bubble in July 2007 the debt markets have changed fundamentally. Most notably, there have been no new leveraged buyout mega-deals announced since the second half of 2007. Throughout 2008, volumes dropped significantly and shifted from larger to smaller deals.

The high-quality debt of strategically important companies may offer investors a compelling opportunity while governments are willing to commit support and capital, say Louis Chabrier and Michael Taylor

The Pensions Regulator has reappointed John Scampion as chairman of the determinations panel for a further four years from April 6.

BNY Mellon Asset Management has hired Richard Bagge as account management director, a new role within its pension team.

Rowanmoor Pensions has appointed Peter Callcut as a regulated consultant to strengthen the firm’s business relationships in London and East Anglia.

Taxation and class action specialist, Goal Group, has appointed Saghar Bigwood to the board of directors.