epn: European Pensions & Investment News articles from August 2002

epn: European Pensions & Investment News archives from August 2002

News: Poor submissions slow Pensionsfonds approval.
August 5, 2002... Germany's BAFin financial services regulator does not expect to approve all 27 Pensionsfonds applications until the end of the year, despite a recent legal clarification in the definition of the Pensionsfonds which was intended to speed up the...

News: Market volatility no bar to decent returns, claims Credit Agricole.
August 5, 2002... French investment house, Credit Agricole Asset Management says decent returns can still be made in current volatile markets. Ian McEvatt, chief executive officer of Credit Agricole Asset Management in the UK cited one alternative fixed...

News: Lombardy votes itself better deal.
August 5, 2002... The regional parliament of Lombardy has approved a retirement package for its members that offers final salary-linked pensions. The move has been criticised because of its potential to undermine Italy's gradual transition to relating state...

News: Swiss allow foreigners to cross property threshold.
August 5, 2002... Switzerland is set to open up its CHF200bn (E138bn) property market to foreign investors. Currently, foreigners cannot invest in companies that have more than 20% of its assets devoted to residential property. However, new legislation,...

News: Commission backs down on SRI policy.
August 5, 2002... The European Commission has pulled back from requiring institutional investors and retail funds to disclose their policy on ethical, environmental and social factors. Practitioners and advisers on socially responsible investing (SRI)...

Scheme News: Petroleum fund under fire.
August 5, 2002... Officials at Norway's NKr625bn (E82bn) Petroleum Fund have shrugged off reports that it has lost up to 10% of its value in stock market investments. One Norwegian newspaper claimed that income transferred to the fund from the government...

Scheme News: Allianz lines up internal firms for P-fonds tender.
August 5, 2002... Allianz Dresdner is inviting internal tenders for its Pensionsfonds, which will also manage the metal and electronics industry's MetallRente fonds. The two will be benchmarked against the MSCI World index, before the latter is spun off into a...

Investment News: Equity threat to economy.
August 5, 2002... Depressed equity markets are threatening the global economy, analysts are warning. A team of economists at ABN Amro in London have said that while indicators are showing the US economy to be picking up, the collapse in equity prices will...

Investment News: JPMorgan Fleming graded AA+ by Fitch-AMR.
August 5, 2002... JPMorgan Fleming Asset Management's London operations has been awarded a AA+ rating by Fitch-AMR. JPMorgan Investment Management was at one time the only asset manager to hold the prestigious AAA rating. JPMorgan Investment Management and...

Investment News: Hedge funds deny claims of causing market volatility.
August 5, 2002... Alternative investors have hit back at allegations that short selling is leading to greater market volatility and falling equity prices. Chris Gent, the chief executive of UK telecommunications giant Vodafone, recently suggested that hedge...

Comment & Analysis: LPI bonds: all talk and no action.
August 5, 2002... I have previously mentioned the need for innovative products to enable pension funds to better match their liabilities. In the UK, corporate LPI bonds (where coupon payments and redemptions increase in line with price inflation subject to an...

Comment & Analysis: The Japanese experience for all.
August 5, 2002... The summer is never a good period for stock markets. This year, if we are to judge it by the so-far appalling report card as of the end of July, the performance will have been even weaker than usual. US and European equity markets suffered...

Leader: Politicians ensure their own cosy retirement.
August 5, 2002... Before slipping away for very long summer holidays, the servants of the people, Europe's politicians, have occupied themselves with the great pensions problem. Our continent is ageing rapidly and state benefit systems are too generous to...

Leader: Investors take a long-term view.
August 5, 2002... The latest INVESCO survey into European institutional investment does not tell us anything new about how poorly the markets are performing. But it is instructive in showing how investors cope with the situation. Funds have stagnated...

Survey: Government Bonds - Putting safety first.
August 5, 2002... The traditional case for the inclusion of government bonds in a portfolio is primarily to hedge against financial trauma, providing high quality protection. The argument goes that government bonds offer high credit quality. Of course,...

Survey: Government Bonds - Fixed income in the shadow of alternatives.
August 5, 2002... Pensions funds usually embrace government bonds because of their perceived safety although the evidence for such an argument seems to be waning. ABP, the giant Dutch pension fund with more than E150bn in assets, still sees equities as a...

Survey: Government Bonds - Strategists and managers stay positive.
August 5, 2002... Not everybody agrees that current equity risk premia are reasonable over the medium or longer term. George Cooper, global strategist at Deutsche Bank, is one such critic. "If you look at where the equity risk premium is now relative to its...

Survey: Government Bonds - Sovereign issuer ratings set to slip.
August 5, 2002... Pensions expenditure will drag European Union sovereign issuers below their current ratings, according to Standard & Poor's (S&P). It predicts that one will fall to BBB within 10 years and three others could join by 2023. S&P takes a large...

Institutional Investors: Real estate is the new favoured asset class.
August 5, 2002... Invesco's latest European Institutional Asset Management Survey (EIAMS) is the most representative sample of its region that it has ever done. Representing E943bn in assets under management from Benelux, France, Germany and Italy - nearly...

Research Update: Putting human capital at risk.
August 5, 2002... As companies with defined benefit pension arrangements in place consider a move to defined contribution, a key issue will be the extent to which turnover of employees changes. Turnover is a particularly relevant concern in Europe over the next...

Fund Portrait: Lifeyrissjodur Verzlunarmanna - Hybrids are good for business.
August 5, 2002... Iceland's Ikr98bn (R1.2bn) Lifeyrissjodur Verzlunarmanna (Pension Fund of Commerce) is a novelty - a hybrid scheme in more senses than one. Not only are benefits a combination of defined benefit and defined contribution, but participation is...

Pensions Snapshot: Russia.
August 5, 2002... IN TYPICAL Russian fashion, the country is going through something of a revolution in its pensions system only to get halted by apparatchiks. A decade since reforms began, full private pension funds (PPFs) will now launch in 2004. At...

Pensions Snapshot: Russia - In brief.
August 5, 2002... - Restrictions on the size of pensions was lifted for the pensioners who continue working and whose earnings, apart from their pensions, also include wage or salary. Every pensioner who takes up a job after retirement age is entitled to a full...

News: Pena takes over from Valbuena at Fonditel.
August 19, 2002... Spain's largest occupational pension fund has a new boss. Luis Pena takes over from Santiago Fernandez Valbuena as chief executive officer of Fonditel, the investment arm of the Telefonica Group. Pena was recruited to Fonditel in 1998 to...

News: ATP awards Citigroup and Pimco E100m briefs.
August 19, 2002... Denmark's DKr250bn (E33bn) Labour Market Supplementary fund has awarded two emerging market bond mandates worth E100m each. The Arbejdsmarkedets Tillaegspension (ATP) has awarded the briefs to Pimco and Citigroup. Lars Holm Pedersen,...

News: Borgdorff heads Dutch association.
August 19, 2002... Peter Borgdorff has been appointed as director of the Dutch industrywide pension fund association, the Vereingiging voor Bedrifstakpensioenfondsen (VB). Borgdorff, who steps into the shoes of Frans Prins on 19 August, was previously regional...

News: Report hits out at FRS17's volatile impact on schemes.
August 19, 2002... FTSE 100 company schemes would have lost around GBP25bn (E39bn) in mid-July, according to a UK accountancy report which revealed the volatility caused by new accountancy standard FRS17. The report also shows engineering giant Rolls Royce...

News: Caparo workers strike after talks breakdown.
August 19, 2002... Workers at UK steel company Caparo have gone on strike after the breakdown in talks over the future of their final salary scheme. Talks between Caparo and the ISTC, the steelworkers' union, broke down last week leading to a series of weekly...

Scheme News: Barclays wins E207m brief.
August 19, 2002... Barclays Global Investors (BGI) has been appointed by PGGM, Europe's second largest pension fund, to build a US$200m (E207m) active inflation-linked bond portfolio. The actively managed bond fund will be benchmarked against the Lehman Brothers...

Asset Management News: Henderson puts its faith in fixed income.
August 19, 2002... Henderson Global Investors is looking to fixed income as investors try to take shelter from plunging equity markets. The company has created a new office in Chicago to concentrate on US fixed income, making two appointments from Deutsche...

Asset Management News: Global focus will lower risk, says UBS research.
August 19, 2002... Pension funds should treat equity portfolios globally and not on a regional basis, according to research from UBS Global Asset Management. Just as the globalisation of industries has led to the expansion of economies, UBS advocates dealing...

Asset Management News: Nordea transfers E152m to plug Nordbanken deficit.
August 19, 2002... Nordea, the financial services giant spanning the Nordic region, is to transfer E152m to one of its pension funds to cover a deficit. At the end of the first quarter this year the fund, which is the old pension fund for Nordbanken employees...

Asset Management News: Call for EU tax harmony.
August 19, 2002... European cross-border inves-tors are experiencing barriers ranging from tax legislation to selective distribution, according to a report from a Parisian think tank. The study, produced by Promethee in conjunction with the US Depository...

Asset Management News: Robeco notes will produce the goods in troubled markets.
August 19, 2002... Robeco is preparing to offer a fixed income product that even in current troubled markets promises 40-50 basis points above Libor with a AAA rating. The euro-denominated product will emulate the structure of two existing Robeco offerings,...

People on the move: Nestor takes up new role at Citigroup.
August 19, 2002... Henderson Global Investors seeks a new director of institutional marketing after John Nestor departed to join Citigroup Asset Management as head of the European institutional business and global consultant relations. He will take up his...

People on the move: Watson Wyatt nabs First Quadrant's Brown.
August 19, 2002... Robert Brown is leaving quantitative specialist First Quadrant to join the investment consultancy practice of Watson Wyatt. First Quadrant has a reputation in tactical asset allocation and currency overlay but the bulk of its business is in...

People on the move: Burvill heads UK equity income at Gartmore.
August 19, 2002... UK house Gartmore has appointed Chris Burvill as head of UK equity income. He joins from Investec, where he had a similar role. Following the merger of its UK retail and institutional departments, Gartmore is hoping for greater institutional...

Hedge Fund Profile: RAB Europe Fund - RAB hits the right note.
August 19, 2002... While many blame hedge funds for the current plunge in equity markets, hedge fund managers have generally found it no easier to manage money in current market conditions than long only managers. And while hedge funds have managed to meet...

Comment & Analysis: Funding the edge.
August 19, 2002... Pension managers live in troubled times. The varied fauna of issuers, accountants, analysts and fund managers that populate the industry are under detailed scrutiny for their misleading recommendations, their doubtful practices, and their poor...

Comment & Analysis: The end of private pensions?
August 19, 2002... A few days from now, the chief executives of most US large corporations will personally have to certify the accounts of the companies they run. This gesture represents the most symbolic aspect of the government-led bid to restore the...

Leader: No accounting for volatility.
August 19, 2002... There is no accounting for the problems European pension funds face if, as seems likely, the UK's FRS17 becomes the model for an international standard. Actuarial firm Lane Clark & Peacock (LCP) shows in its annual Accounting for Pensions...

Leader: Valbuena, mas que un presidente.
August 19, 2002... Eighteen months ago I had the pleasure of hearing Santiago Fernandez Valbuena, outgoing chief of Spain's largest pension fund, chair a conference session on indexing at Barcelona's Hotel Arts. Never one to miss a trick, Valbuena took time to...

Survey: Belgium - Winds of change.
August 19, 2002... Belgium is in the throes of waiting for its new pension system to become law. The Vandenbroucke law is expected to be passed by parliament this summer and take effect from January 2003. Named after Socialist minister of social affairs and...

Fixed Income: Bonds are good for risk/return profile.
August 19, 2002... Corporate bonds will play a greater part in pension fund portfolios. Funds should pursue the understanding of credit derivatives and use them. More Limited Price Indexation bonds would be welcome. These are the three major themes that...

Fixed Income: Rules block benefits of European swap shop.
August 19, 2002... The plan rules of a large number of pension funds across Europe prohibit the use of fixed income derivatives. But the response from epn's roundtable of experts (pages 16-17) suggests that such bans could be detrimental to these funds and...

Fixed Income: Q&A.
August 19, 2002... The questions 1. What single event or piece of legislation could improve the fixed income environment for European asset managers? 2. Corporate bonds have been touted as a panacea for maturing schemes, yet they have suffered as a...

Research Update: Risk measures for DC pension schemes.
August 19, 2002... With equity markets not performing as well as in the 1990s, there is increasing concern about risk in pension schemes and the need to measure it well. One of the standard approaches to financial market risk is Value at Risk (VAR), which...

Pensions Snapshot: Turkey.
August 19, 2002... Turkey has the youngest population in western Europe - 50% of the people are under 25, and 75% are under 35. Good news for its footballing future but not necessarily for the future of the economy. While output drops, the pensions bill is going...

Pensions Snapshot: Turkey - In brief.
August 19, 2002... - The generous structure of the state pension system has allowed women to retire as early as 38 and men at 43. So in spite of having western Europe's youngest population, Turkey has fewer than two workers to every one retiree. - Social...