The extra returns for holding shares over risk-free assets will fall by nearly one third from present levels, making a reliance on equities by pension funds "a pretty dangerous strategy", London Business School research warns.

GLOBAL - The extra returns for holding shares over risk-free assets will fall by nearly one third from present levels, making a reliance on equities by pension funds "a pretty dangerous strategy", according to new research by the London Business School....

JAPAN - The adoption of new benchmarks by some Japanese pension funds is set to boost their holdings of emerging markets shares, says Goldman Sachs Investment Research.

Henderson Global Investors plans to merge its £3.3bn Liquid Assets Fund into the money market fund range of DB Advisors over regulatory concerns.

UK - Henderson Global Investors plans to merge its £3.3bn ($5.2bn) Liquid Assets Fund into the money market fund range of DB Advisors over regulatory concerns.

GLOBAL - The Chinese could challenge Americans as the world's largest consumers by 2025, and will more than compensate for any US sluggishness, Goldman Sachs Asset Management chairman Jim O'Niell believes.

ASIA - Japan's Nikko Asset Management is strengthening its presence among institutional investors as it announced a deal to buy key parts of rival DBS Asset Management this morning.

Start-up investment manager Carduus Capital has become the latest hedge fund investor to offer to refund part of its fees if it does not perform as institutional clients expect.

UK/Switzerland - GLG Partners has become the latest large hedge fund to see staff leave its UK offices for Switzerland due to high personal tax rates.

US - Watchdog the Securities & Exchange Commission has progressed plans to regulate hedge and private equity funds, and to push them to reveal more information on their activities.