AUSTRALIA - Australia's largest pension fund AustralianSuper has planned to merge with Westscheme to form a A$40bn ($40.2bn) fund with 1.7 million members.

AUSTRALIA - Russell Investments has launched its first after-tax fund to maximise returns for superannuation investors.

IRELAND - Qualifying Investor Funds (QIFs) increased by 35% to €153bn ($209bn) during 2010, figures from Central Bank of Ireland reveal.

NEW ZEALAND - The New Zealand Superannuation Fund returned 4.42% in December 2010, up from -0.38% in the previous month, due to an increase in global equities.

HONG KONG - The Mandatory Provident Fund has failed in its task to encourage additional savings, but pending legislation to encourage members to move their assets into other savings vehicles will do just that, said RCM.

AUSTRALIA - The Australian Government has proposed super funds use tax file numbers (TFNs) to identify members' accounts to help recover the ‘lost' A$18.8bn ($19bn) in superannuation assets.

Towers Watson; EIOPA; ATP; State Street; Janus Capital Group Inc; Transamerica Retirement Services; Mercer; T. Rowe Price; QIC

US - Towers Watson has named six investment heads, including one to the new position of head of strategy for North America.

US - The California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) is seeking shareowner support for its proposal to have unopposed candidates to Apple's board be elected by a majority vote.

GLOBAL - Russell Investments has launched the Russell Stability Indexes which divide securities according to volatility and quality.