epn: European Pensions & Investment News articles from April 2006

epn: European Pensions & Investment News archives from April 2006

News: Asset allocation review sees FRR on cusp of a strategy overhaul.
April 10, 2006... Byline: Chris Newlands FRR, the E28.2bn French pensions reserve fund, is in the process of reviewing its strategic asset allocation and expects to announce the results of the review - which could include its first forays into property,...

News: Auto-enrolment gets thumbs up from UK interest groups.
April 10, 2006... Byline: Chris Newlands Of the four pension reform proposals put forward by the UK's Pensions Commission, automatic enrolment was the most widely supported, according to Lord Turner, chair of the commission. The proposals consisted of...

News: Positive market sees Irish assets jump up by 25%.
April 10, 2006... Byline: Reeta Cevik Irish pension funds experienced strong growth during 2005, the annual asset allocation survey published by the Irish Association of Pension Funds (IAPF) has revealed. Assets under management increased by 25 per cent...

News: Institutions are missing out on residential property.
April 10, 2006... Byline: Kalpana Limbachia Institutional investors are overlooking the residential market when investing in property, according to industry experts. Speaking at the alternative investment summit in London last week, Andrew Allen, head...

News: Finland raises transfer limit for pensions.
April 10, 2006... Byline: Reeta Cevik The Finnish ministry of social affairs and health has announced it will raise the limit on the transfer of assets from pension funds to pension insurance companies and vice versa from 11.8 per cent to 19 per cent from...

News: BIAM slide continues with an additional e1.9bn outflow.
April 10, 2006... Byline: Chris Newlands Bank of Ireland Asset Management (BIAM), the unsettled Irish fund manager with assets under management of E45bn, reported further asset outflows of E1.9bn in the 12 months to 31 March 2006 - an asset drop of more...

News: Mellon and WestLB complete e38bn joint venture.
April 10, 2006... Byline: Reeta Cevik Mellon Financial says it has "significant" new business leads for its new joint venture with West AM, the Dusseldorf-based investment management arm of West LB. The two institutions announced the formal start of the...

News in Brief: Increased longevity hits ABP liabilities to tune of e2.9bn.
April 10, 2006... ABP, the Dutch pension fund for public employees, has increased its liabilities by E2.9bn after taking into account increased Dutch life expectancy, according to its annual report. This amounts to a decrease in cover ratio of 2.2 per cent. With...

News in Brief: FTSE All share return boosts UK funds' deficits.
April 10, 2006... UK pension funds' FRS 17 deficits have reduced from GBP73bn at the end of February (E104bn) to GBP48bn (E68bn) at the end of last month, thanks to a FTSE All Share return of 4 per cent in March, and a rise in the yield on long- dated government...

News in Brief: Emerging markets fund opens to Luxembourg and Austria.
April 10, 2006... East Capital has started offering its five emerging European equity funds in Austria and Luxembourg. The funds will be sold directly to institutional investors, and marketed through banks and other distributors to retail clients. The East...

News in Brief: AP2 searches for Odhnoff replacement.
April 10, 2006... AP2, the E20.33bn Second Swedish National Pension Fund, is looking to replace its CIO, Petter Odhnoff, before the coming summer. Mr Odhnoff left his post after an audit conducted by the Swedish Tax Authorities indicated that he has been engaged...

News: BoNY opens US and Europe investment doors to Poland.
April 10, 2006... Byline: Reeta Cevik The Bank of New York has registered an investment fund company, BNY National Trust TFI SA, in Poland where it plans to start offering investment funds for local investors. The funds include private equity, hedge funds...

News: Nicol appointment fuels Aberdeen's first foray into France.
April 10, 2006... Byline: Reeta Cevik Aberdeen Property Investors is making its first move into France and has appointed Jacques-Yves Nicol as managing director of its new business. Mr Nicol was previously managing director, France, at Tishman Speyer...

News: People on the Move - LCP promotes in-house trio to partners.
April 10, 2006... Lane Clark & Peacock (LCP) has appointed Adam Poulson, Clive Wellsteed and Richard Pinder as partners. Mr Poulson joined LCP in 1995. His main responsibilities include providing advice to companies on the pace of funding and the accounting...

News: People on the Move - Van Wijk takes board and director post at TKP.
April 10, 2006... TKP Investments BV, part of TKP Pensioen in the Netherlands, has appointed Roelie van Wijk as president of its board and director of investments. Ms van Wijk currently works as head of asset management research at SNS Asset Management. Ms van...

News: People on the Move - Pearson looks overseas with new Euro equities role.
April 10, 2006... Standard Life Investments has strengthened its overseas equity team with the appointment of Stan Pearson as head of European equities. Mr Pearson joins Standard Life from Pioneer, where was head of equities in the firm's Dublin office. At...

News: People on the Move - Corley takes over from Moreau as FEAM chairman.
April 10, 2006... Elizabeth Corley, CEO of Allianz Global Investors Europe, has been appointed as the chairman of the Forum of European Asset Managers (FEAM). Ms Corley succeeds Nicolas Moreau of Axa Investment Managers. FEAM represents and supports the...

News: People on the Move - Global management specialist Opperman moves to Hewitts.
April 10, 2006... Hewitt Associates has appointed Dieter Oppermann to lead the International Consulting Group of BodeHewitt in Germany. Mr Oppermann most recently lead Mercer's international capabilities in Germany and has specialist knowledge of the global...

News: People on the Move - Harper tackles governance service at Hewitt Associates.
April 10, 2006... Hewitt Associates has also appointed Lorraine Harper to lead and coordinate its Pension Scheme Governance Service within the firm's UK retirement practice. Ms Harper joins from KPMG where she established the firm's pensions administration...

News: People on the Move - White Pine man Irvine goes for growth at Henderson.
April 10, 2006... Henderson Global Investors has appointed Jim Irvine as head of structured products. Mr Irvine joins Henderson from Bank One/JP Morgan, where he launched and ran the $8.5bn White Pine Structured Investment Vehicle. At Henderson he will be...

News: People on the Move - McLeland takes head of marketing post at Investec.
April 10, 2006... Investec Asset Management has appointed Sarah McLeland as head of marketing. Previously, Ms McLeland was the head of marketing and products at Merrill Lynch Investment Managers (MLIM) in Australia. At Investec she will lead a central marketing...

News: UK asset managers give tepid response to govt personal pension provider plans.
April 10, 2006... Byline: Christine Senior The UK government's announcement that asset management companies will be able to establish personal pension schemes has been given a rather lukewarm reception by the asset management community. Economic...

News: Investors shun equities in favour of overseas assets and alternatives.
April 10, 2006... Byline: Christine Senior UK institutional investors turned their backs on investing in UK equities and fixed income in 2005 and moved instead into overseas assets and alternatives, according to new figures from National Statistics and...

News Analysis: Dragging DC to diversification.
April 10, 2006... Byline: Liam Kennedy Defined contribution (DC) investments appear to have made their way on to the "to do" list of consultants and asset managers. And, in a break with much traditional investment consulting to date, Watson Wyatt now...

Comment: Leader - Preparing for the brave new post-Turner world.
April 10, 2006... Byline: Liam Kennedy Slowly but surely, the UK appears to be moving towards a world in which larger and more efficient pension funds take on a greater role in retirement provision. Whether the department for work and pensions...

Comment: World View - Could a crack become a canyon?
April 10, 2006... Byline: Klaudius Sobczyk Small events can foreshadow larger turmoil. This old wisdom is often forgotten in the financial markets. Global equity markets appear to be heading for more gains after the latest interest rate increases in the US...

Comment: Accounting standards before economic sense.
April 10, 2006... Byline: Alan J. Brown When the tail wags the dog it is not a pretty sight. Marking assets and liabilities to market is a perfectly sensible thing to do as long as it does not lead to inappropriate actions. The trouble is that is exactly...

Comment: Parting the seas of red ink.
April 10, 2006... Mephisto has been out and about. Alright, so it was just a trip to the Cannon Street offices of the International Accounting Standards Board, but we all have to start somewhere - a meeting about lease accounting. Not generally where you'd...

Focus: Nordic Region - Alpha-Beta Separation - Case Study: Nordic Bank Investment Management.
April 10, 2006... Byline: Liam Kennedy Norway's Statens Pensjonsfonds - Utland (SPU) (formerly the state petroleum fund) last year implemented an alpha-beta separation strategy for its equity holdings, hard on the heels of a similar strategy implemented in...

Focus: Nordic Region: Alpha-Beta Separation - Case Study: Denmark's ATP.
April 10, 2006... Byline: Reeta Cevik ATP, Denmark's DKr365bn (E48.94bn) labour market supplementary pension scheme, introduced alpha beta separation within its portfolio gradually over the course of 2005. The strategy now covers all of its investments...

Focus: Nordic Region - Swedish Traffic Lights - PP hedges bets to keep the red lights at bay.
April 10, 2006... Byline: Chris Newlands PP Pension, the Skr7.6bn (e800m) Swedish journalists' fund, is taking the Swedish finance authority's traffic light system - which was launched in January this year - very seriously. The fund, which pulled in...

Focus: Nordic Region - Custody - Survival struggle fierce on middle ground.
April 10, 2006... Byline: Christine Senior Consolidation among custodians is nothing new. So the news that ING is quitting the global custody market because it does not have the resources to measure up to larger players should not have been a huge...

Fund Profile: OTP Pension Funds - Charging ahead with equities.
April 10, 2006... Byline: Liam Kennedy Speaking three weeks before the first round of Hungary's parliamentary election, Peter Holtzer, chairman of the board of OTP Fund Management, believes that whoever takes the reins after the second round on 23 April,...

Pensions Snapshot: Spain.
April 10, 2006... Byline: Chris Newlands According to the Spanish National Statistics Institute, total population in Spain grew from 40.8 million to 43.7 million between 2001 and 2005 and is expected to grow by a further 5.36 million by 2050. More worrying...

News: Dutch lobby groups take stance on soft dollar arrangements.
April 24, 2006... Byline: Chris Newlands The two largest Dutch investor lobby groups, the VB and the OPF, have urged pension funds in the Netherlands to demand greater price transparency from brokers regarding securities transactions fees. The two...

News: Finnish giant ups foreign property exposure.
April 24, 2006... Byline: Reeta Cevik Ilmarinen, the E21bn Finnish mutual pension insurance company, is increasing its exposure to foreign property from 5 per cent to 25 per cent of its total real estate holdings over the next four years. Jussi...

News: EC takes action over directive infringements.
April 24, 2006... Byline: Chris Newlands The European Commission is to send reasoned opinions to Belgium, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Italy, Lithuania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and the United Kingdom for not having written the IORP...

News: Private equity to prosper at expense of equities.
April 24, 2006... Byline: Chris Newlands European pension and life insurance funds intend to reduce their exposure to equities over the coming six months and increase their allocation to private equity and real estate - according to the results of epn's...

News: Finance Bill clarifies Brown's UK Reits draft.
April 24, 2006... Byline: Stephen Bouvier Real estate investment trusts (Reits) are finally taking shape in the UK. From 1 January 2007, the vehicle will be open to UK-domiciled companies "publicly listed on a recognised stock exchange as defined for tax...

News: VBL diversifies into Asia real estate and mulls commodities.
April 24, 2006... Germany's E10bn VBL pension scheme, which provides retirement income for mid- grade public employees, is to diversify its investments in international real estate, with a particular emphasis on Asia. The fund is also understood to be...

News: New Star follows up Continental success with eye on products for eastern European market.
April 24, 2006... New Star Asset Management is considering the expansion of its emerging markets coverage with a dedicated eastern Europe capability. The London-based asset manager is also considering the addition of a further large-cap strategy. Philip...

News: Axa IM nears launch of Luxembourg fund aimed at targeting alpha in wider Axa group.
April 24, 2006... Axa Investment Managers (Axa IM) is close to launching a Luxembourg- domiciled, fund-based portable alpha product in (as reported in epn 183, 12 September 2005). The fund will invest in Axa IM equity products as well as products of other...

News in Brief: Fidelity targets German market with long-term savings account.
April 24, 2006... Fidelity Investments is understood to be about to launch a long-term employee savings account product in Germany, according to our sister publication dpn. The launch, slated for late summer, would create a so-called Zeitwertkonto product, which...

News in Brief: Regional pension scheme looks for fund administration services.
April 24, 2006... The Region Siljan in Sweden has put out to tender for pension fund administration services. The Swedish fund is also looking to appointment a firm to provide individual pension services and pension fund management services. The contract is...

News in Brief: Turkish funds place faith in government bonds and bills.
April 24, 2006... Turkey's Pension Monitoring Center (EGM) reports that although local regulations that stipulate pension funds must place at least 30 per cent of their assets in government bonds and bills, Turkish pension funds had an overwhelming 79.6 per cent...

News in Brief: Edhec reports short selling was only strategy to lose out in March.
April 24, 2006... Edhec Risk and Asset Management Research Centre reports that all hedge fund strategies except short selling posted positive returns last month. The best performer was CTA global with a return of 3.01 per cent, followed by long/short equity...

News: Axa makes timely appointment to restructured SRI team.
April 24, 2006... Byline: Chris Newlands Axa Investment Managers is beefing up its socially responsible investment capability with the appointment of Raj Thamotheram as director, responsible investment. The appointment comes just before FRR, the E28.2bn...

News: SEI over the moon as Jolly takes customised strategies post.
April 24, 2006... SEI has poached Gartmore's head of currency and fixed income portfolio construction, Bob Jolly, as its head of customised institutional strategies. Mr Jolly, who will work within the firm's investment management unit in London, will report...

News: People on the Move - ABN Amro appoints Young to head up UK institutional sales.
April 24, 2006... ABN Amro Asset Management has appointed Shamus Young as its new global head of consultant relationships and head of UK institutional sales. Mr Young joins from Gartmore Investment Management where he has worked for the past nine years as...

News: People on the Move - Kas Bank looks to boost board with Kadiks appointment.
April 24, 2006... Kas Bank in the Netherlands is to appoint Hans Kadiks as a member of its managing board for a term of four years. Mr Kadiks has spent the last 10 years as statutory managing director with ING, where he gained experience in the Netherlands and...

News: People on the Move - Mercer hires Doetsch as MD in Frankfurt office.
April 24, 2006... Dr Peter Doetsch has joined Mercer Investment Consulting in Frankfurt as a managing director. He was previously a director of the German building industry supplementary pension scheme. Prior to that, Dr Doetsch was at the actuarial consultancy...

News: People on the Move - Koster heads to German postal operator's pension fund.
April 24, 2006... Deutsche Post World Net, the German national postal operator, has appointed Dr Benedikt Koster as director of its pension group. He will be in charge of the development and implementation of corporate benefit guidelines, asset liability studies...

News: People on the Move - Schmidt-Voss joins Invesco's Frankfurt office from SUP.
April 24, 2006... Invesco Deutschland has appointed Bruno Schmidt-Voss (pictured) as senior sales manager. Mr Schmidt-Voss joins from SUP (Societat fur Unternehmensplanung GmbH) where he was consultant for the business area financial services. Based at Invesco's...

News: People on the Move - Muskens leaves ABN Amro to assume MD role at NIB.
April 24, 2006... Agnes Muskens has been appointed managing director, head of group, finance within the corporate centre of NIB Capital in the Netherlands. Prior to joining NIB Capital Ms Muskens worked at ABN Amro where she fulfilled various senior positions in...

News: People on the Move - Northern Trust hires two to enhance UK teams.
April 24, 2006... Northern Trust has appointed Peter Brookman as head of UK fund accounting and Lynne Hill as head of UK transfer agency. Mr Brookman joins Northern Trust from BNP Paribas Fund Services, where he was the head of UK open-ended investment company...

News: Insurers are being forced to fend off competition from buyout specialists.
April 24, 2006... Byline: Christine Senior Competition is intensifying in the UK pensions buyout market, and established insurers are having to fend off new companies from attacking their market share. One new entrant, Paternoster, has won equity...

News: FTSE 100 firms attempt to plug DB deficits by upping contributions.
April 24, 2006... Byline: Christine Senior FTSE 100 companies increased contributions to their defined benefit (DB) pension schemes by an average of around 30 per cent last year, according to analysis from Watson Wyatt. Three out of four companies paid...

News Analysis: European companies need to start gearing up for MiFID's demands.
April 24, 2006... Byline: Kalpana Limbachia The EU markets in financial instruments directive (MiFID), due to be implemented by the end of next year, will no doubt create a great deal of havoc in the investment services industry. But there are concerns that...

Statistics: Returns favour size and expertise.
April 24, 2006... Byline: Bram van den Oever Good returns were realised last year among Dutch industry-wide pension funds. The range of returns, however, was between 6.5 per cent and 19.4 per cent. Average weighted returns were 14.3 per cent, while the...

Comment: Leader - The time has come to get hard on softing.
April 24, 2006... Byline: Liam Kennedy Paul Myners urged UK pension funds to move towards unbundling in his 2001 report Institutional Investment in the UK, a Review. The inherent problems of bundled investment services, including soft dollars, were...

Comment: World View - All that glitters is not gold.
April 24, 2006... Byline: Klaudius Sobczyck Several asset classes have recently started to display worrying signs that the lock step of performance may be soon broken. Until recently, investors have been used to positive performance from all asset classes,...

Comment: Industry Voice - Using the 'stick' with progressive red tape.
April 24, 2006... Byline: Leonardo Sforza The old practice of "filibustering", once used by Roman senators to delay or derail legislation and sometime practiced in national parliaments, is back in Europe. For the EU pension funds' directive, as...

Comment: A good idea but way too late.
April 24, 2006... Watson Wyatt's recent announcement that it will advise DC pension scheme clients to consider multi-asset class investing along the lines of the Yale Model raises an important question: why was this advice not in fact given at least a decade...

EPN Investment Outlook Survey: Equity allocations cut as emerging market stocks star once again.
April 24, 2006... Byline: Chris Newlands According to the results of epn's latest quarterly institutional investor survey, which polled 33 pension and life insurance managers with some E112bn of assets under management, just over two-fifths of respondents...

Focus: The Netherlands - Are Dutch funds wrapped in red tape?
April 24, 2006... "It is important for us to have a new Pensions Act now, as the present Pensions and Saving Funds Act (PSW) has become a mess thanks to all the amendments," says Gerard Verheij, secretary of the employers' organisation VNO-NCW and chairman of...

Focus: The Netherlands - The changing pensions game.
April 24, 2006... Byline: Bram van den Oever The short-termism that has crept in to the Dutch pensions system, with IFRS and the new financial assessment framework (FTK), has provoked debate within the pensions world. Some believe that the impact of the...

Fund Profile: Bernische Pensionskasse - Swiss fund keeping risk close to home.
April 24, 2006... Byline: Reeta Cevik Bernische Pensionskasse (BPK) has announced that its investment portfolio, totalling SFr8.29bn (E5.26bn), yielded over 12 per cent last year, its best returns in eight years. Scheme assets, invested for public employees...

Pensions Snapshot: Austria.
April 24, 2006... Byline: Reeta Cevik The Austrian private pensions market, which has experienced notable reforms since the 1990s, is now digesting the changes. Defined contribution funds were introduced in 1990. In 2003, the compulsory severance pay...