United Kingdom

UK - Pension schemes should be legally obliged to perform due diligence before appointing a fiduciary manager, consultants say.

UK/US - Insurer Aon said today Kristi Savacool and Baljit Dail will become the new co-chief executives of Aon Hewitt, replacing Russ Fradin who is leaving the firm to join SunGard.

UK - The Pension Protection Fund will use scheme investment risk for the first time to calculate the levy from 2012/13, it announced today.

UK - The first quarter of 2011 saw a 24% fall in levels of interest rate hedges by pension funds, research by F&C shows.

UK - Trustees of the London Stock Exchange Group's defined benefit plan have sealed a groundbreaking £203m ($329m) deal to insure its pensioner members' liabilities after reporting a £33m increase in the scheme's surplus.

UK - The Pensions Regulator has placed its review of the BT Pension Scheme funding valuation and recovery plan on hold.

UK - The Universities Superannuation Scheme's contested switch to career average is set to go ahead this Autumn following a decisive meeting yesterday approving the changes.

UK - The surplus of defined benefit schemes monitored by the Pension Protection Fund slipped from £45.5bn in March to £2.3bn last month.

UK - Bulk annuity buy-ins and buyouts are now a more popular solution than longevity risk hedging for trustees looking to de-risk, research by MetLife Assurance shows.

UK - Amundi ETF is expanding into the UK with the launch of 16 exchange-traded funds on the London Stock Exchange.