United Kingdom

Andrew Short explores the potential effects on pension schemes from the Bank of England's decision to embark on a second round of quantitative easing.

UK - The Bank of England has increased its quantitative easing programme by £75bn ($114bn) in a bid to kick-start the UK's ailing economy, while leaving interest rates on hold at 0.5%.

UK - Schemes are continuing to focus on equity performance risk despite reducing allocations to this class, research finds.

UK - Barnett Waddingham has been chosen by investment bank UBS to provide administration and actuarial oversight services for its longevity swaps service.

UK - Pension deficits have dropped to just over £300bn ($464bn) as a fall in the price inflation outlook shaved £50bn off scheme liabilities in a month, according to Xafinity.

UK - Pensions minister Steve Webb has vowed to fulfil the government's promise to reinvigorate occupational pensions by deregulating the defined benefit sector.

GLOBAL - Have you missed the biggest stories in pensions this week? Find out below, as we list the top 10 most popular stories on www.globalpensions.com over the past seven days.

UK - The use of transition management within the defined contribution is set to grow as the move away from defined benefit provision continues, delegates at the Global Pensions Transition Management Forum heard.

UK - New developments within the transition management market are providing clients with more flexibility when moving assets than ever before, delegates at the Global Pensions Transition Management Forum heard.

UK - Investors need to up their knowledge of the transition management process if they expect to have successful transitions, delegates at the Global Pensions Transition Management Forum heard.