Europe

UK - The Society of Pension Consultants has urged government to pass legislation defining money purchase benefits immediately, or risk schemes not operating correctly.

UK/EUROPE - The £4bn ($6.6bn) Merseyside Pension Fund has made an infrastructure allocation to AMP Capital's Strategic Infrastructure Trust of Europe.

UK - The ITV pension scheme has entered into a £1.7bn ($2.8bn) longevity swap with Credit Suisse to fully hedge the longevity risk for 12,000 of its pensioner members.

UK/US - Mercer has promoted Michael Dempsey to head up its investment management business for Europe, Middle East and Africa, replacing Tom Murphy who will take on a similar role in the US.

UK - Northumberland County Council Pension Fund has appointed Northern Trust to provide it with transition management services.

EUROPE - The UK government is understood to be prepared to shoot down proposals for a financial transaction tax being mooted by Germany and France.

UK - Recent market turmoil could force companies to pay significantly higher contributions or increase the length of deficit repayment periods, Towers Watson warns.

UK/NETHERLANDS - Aegon today confirmed the sale of its UK-based life and pensions business Guardian to European private equity group Cinven, for a total cash consideration of £275m ($450m).

EUROPE - The corporate defined contribution (DC) market in Europe is set to grow by 11.5% per year to 2014, research by Cerulli predicts.

UK/EUROPE - The European Commission has failed to make its case for a revised IORP directive and planned changes should be abandoned, the National Association of Pension Funds says.