IRELAND - Underfunded pension funds will have to meet new risk reserves which could add 10% to its funding requirements and will have the ability to use sovereign annuities under the proposed new funding standard.

US - California governor Edmund Brown yesterday introduced a raft of state pension reforms that could introduce a hybrid scheme for new employees, increases the retirement age for new hires and increases pension contributions for all employees, among...

US - Defence contractor Lockheed Martin warned 2012 profits could be hurt by unexpectedly high pension costs.

UK - The National Employment Saving Trust is set to develop its own internal market to switch equities and bonds between members' funds, its head of investment policy says.

US - Laurence Fink, chairman and chief executive of BlackRock, said billions of assets could flow into perpetual preferred shares issued by European banks looking to recapitalise as they face more stringent capital requirements.

ITALY - BNL/BNP Paribas Employees' Pension Fund has hired State Street Global Advisors to run an €82m ($113m) custom fixed income mandate while the Cariplo Pension Fund renewed a European equity mandate worth $71m.

NETHERLANDS - Dropping interest rates knocked the coverage ratio for Pensioenfonds Zorg & Welzijn (PFZW) down to 91% and Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP's down to 90%.

US - The board of the California Public Employees' Retirement System renewed the contracts of the 16 external managers responsible for its $123.3bn global equity portfolio.

US - Assets at BlackRock hit $3.3trn in the third quarter, down 9% over the three-month period, after market declines battered equity strategies.

GLOBAL - Franklin Templeton's Mark Mobius has said he does not believe there will be a recession in developed or emerging markets despite the ongoing eurozone sovereign crisis.