UK - Paul Myners, author of the Myners review and chairman of the hedge fund group Ermitage, has been appointed as chair designate of the Personal Accounts Delivery Authority.

Peter Hain, the secretary of state for work and pension, announced this morning Myners' appointment will take effect from August 1 2007.

The Personal Accounts Delivery Authority is an independent body "with the necessary skills and experience to get the policy design of personal accounts right, and to ensure that the interest of members remain at the heart of the scheme", Hain commented in a statement.

It will offer independent advice to the government and will be responsible for getting personal accounts active, while ensuring employers meet their new obligations.

Myners commented: "Setting up a trust-based, occupations pension scheme, with up to 10 millions members, is going to be a major undertaking, and I look forward to getting on with the role."

Myners will now look for a chief executive and other key members for the new authority and has added he would donate his salary for this role to charity.

Myners was commissioned by the government six years ago to assess standards among fiduciaries of UK investment institutions.

His report suggested the levels of trustee familiarity with investment matter was inadequate, but the government left the industry to reform itself.

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