Spain

SPAIN - The profitability of Spanish pension funds has fallen by 4.1% since the beginning of year, Mercer's Pension Investment Performance Service has found.

SPAIN - Spanish pension funds' estimated median returns are positive for the month of August in all the three classes of assets they hold, despite median year to date estimated returns of -3.6%, a survey by Mercer has found.

SPAIN - BBVA Fondo de Empleo has announced it will invest 5% of its pension fund assets into alternatives.

UK - The Atkins Pension Plan has shifted around 1,700 members to its defined contribution (DC) pension scheme after it closed two of its defined benefit (DB) sections to future accrual, according to MandateWire.

SPAIN - BNP Paribas Securities Services, a subsidiary of BNP Paribas, has acquired Exelbank, a subsidiary of Banco Sabadell specialising in custody services.

SPAIN - The Spanish government has approved the proposed pension reforms which will see the retirement age raised and the minimum contribution period increased from 12 and a half years to 15 years.

SPAIN - Spain must develop a "more far-sighted long term strategy" to deal with fiscal management in the context of population ageing, according to the OECD.

SPAIN - The Spanish government has paid out €429.7m to more than eight million pensioners to compensate for the unforeseen rise in inflation in 2006.

SPAIN - Demographic developments will require pension policies that are geared towards rebalancing the sources of growth, according to Miguel Fernández Ordónez, governor, Bank of Spain.

SPAIN - The average monthly state pension for retirees in Spain rose to €727.70 on 1 November - a 5.8% increase on the average state pension on the same date in 2005.