Spain

SPAIN/PORTUGAL - Pioneer Investments has appointed Teresa Molins as senior sales manager of its institutional business in Spain and Portugal.

Spain has used the financial crisis to reform its pensions system, yet fears run high that the changes do not go far enough, writes Toby Lewis

SPAIN - The Spanish government will raise the retirement age today in a renewed bid to restore investor confidence after a €20bn ($27bn) plan to shore up savings banks failed to tame the nation's borrowing costs.

SPAIN - Spanish Labor Minister Valeriano Gomez is set to meet with union leaders today to negotiate an overhaul of the pension system as the Socialist government seeks to avoid a second general strike.

SPAIN - Spain's pension overhaul will be "as ambitious" as the government's initial proposal, which included an increase in the retirement age, Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has said.

SPAIN - Spain needs an "urgent" overhaul of its pension system and may have to raise taxes to tame the euro-region's third-biggest deficit and avoid a jump in corporate borrowing costs, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said.

SPAIN - A Spanish pension bill will go to parliament for approval next year, later than expected, and the government is "open" to modifying its proposal that includes raising the retirement age, Labor Minister Valeriano Gomez said.

Spanish prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said his country must overhaul its pension system, including raising the retirement age and changing the way payments are calculated.

SPAIN - The Spanish congress eked through a freeze on state pensions for 2011 by only one vote as the country implements a package of emergency measures to tackle its deficit.

SPAIN - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has urged Spain that "bold" changes to state pension provision should be adopted quickly to help ease the country's financial woes.