Axa

Retirement Planner's round-up of the top pension stories this week.

Clients in their 50s dealing with a retirement income shortfall are "crying out" for alternative investment solutions to close the gap, according to Axa Life Invest.

Axa UK has appointed Bertrand Poupart-Lafarge as the UK group's chief financial officer.

More than 80% of advisers plan to increase their exposure to multi-asset funds based on the diversification and risk profiling opportunities offered.

D2C

Life company AXA has said that its complaint against former Institute of Financial Planning (IFP) president Marlene Shalton for client solicitation has been "settled".

AXA Investment Managers' CEO Dominique Carrel-Billiard is to leave the company, with the head of AXA's Itlaian insurance business Andrea Rossi to take over.

Polar Capital has hired Deane Donnigan and David Pinniger to work within it healthcare team in an effort to increase the range of the group's healthcare investment products.

Axa Portfolio Services - the parent company of the Axa Elevate platform - has reported a pre-tax loss of £29.9m for the year ending 31 December 2012, representing a 10% improvement on the £33.5m loss recorded for 2011.

Annuity rates have declined by 29% since the introduction of the Bank of England's quantitative easing programme, AXA Life Europe has found.