epn: European Pensions & Investment News articles from August 2006

epn: European Pensions & Investment News archives from August 2006

News: NTGI unveils multi-manager DC plans, ups LDI solutions.
August 14, 2006... Byline: Liam Kennedy Northern Trust Global Investments (NTGI) is planning to add a defined contribution (DC) capability to its multi-manager division in addition to enhancing its client solution capability. Tony Earnshaw, managing...

News: ATP equity funds top Folkeborsen pension system.
August 14, 2006... Funds of ATP, the Danish labour market pension fund, took three of the top 10 slots in the country's Folkeborsen pension system in the first half of the year. Folkeborsen is also operated by ATP. Seven of the top 10 funds were Danish...

News: OTC derivatives are on UK fund managers' lips.
August 14, 2006... Byline: Elizabeth Cripps UK fund managers will focus money and attention on three key areas over the next year: over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives, client service, and the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID). According...

News: Hedge funds will be forced to choose.
August 14, 2006... Increasing regulatory scrutiny will force the European hedge fund industry to polarise along institutional and wealth management lines, according to PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC). Graham Phillips, PwC partner and author of its latest report...

News: Schroders to launch Asian property fund after shake-up.
August 14, 2006... Byline: Liam Kennedy Schroders is to launch an Asian real estate fund, the firm's head of investment, Alan Brown, has confirmed. "We will be launching a regional Asian property fund towards the end of this year," Mr Brown said. A...

News in Brief: Equity yields fuel Varma 1.3% half year return.
August 14, 2006... Varma, the E25.3bn Finnish mutual pension insurance company, has reported a half year return of 1.3 per cent. Matti Vuoria, president and CEO of Varma, said that equity investments yielded a positive return despite the May's sell off and asset...

News in Brief: New name and new investments underpin Aberdeen makeover.
August 14, 2006... The E178m Aberdeen Balanced Managed Fund is to undergo a makeover, with a new name - Aberdeen Multi-Asset Fund - and a mandate expanded to allow investment in collective investment schemes. According to Mike Turner, manager of the fund, the...

News in Brief: ABN Amro aims to exploit Japanese opportunities.
August 14, 2006... ABN Amro Asset Management has launched a new single strategy Japan long-short equity hedge fund. Managed by its Hong Kong-based portfolio manager, Jack Chang, the fund will use directional strategies to seek out market inefficiencies. Mr...

News: Mercer acquires Pendia as recruitment drive steps up.
August 14, 2006... Byline: Elizabeth Cripps Mercer Human Resource Consulting has boosted its global expansion plan with the acquisition of Swiss-based investment and retirement consultancy, Pendia Associates, and plans a recruitment drive. Markus Meier,...

News: Cordea Savills to exploit international property market in Germany.
August 14, 2006... Property fund manager Cordea Savills has launched an attack on the German institutional arena, where it hopes to exploit demand to invest outside the local market. Cordea Savills has recruited Thomas Guetle, from TMW Pramerica Immobilien,...

News: People on the Move - Stanning leaves Schroders for portfolio post at Insight.
August 14, 2006... Insight Investment has appointed Diane Stanning as a senior portfolio manager, financial solutions, with responsibility for developing and managing liability-driven investment (LDI) strategies for pension fund clients. She joins from Schroders...

News: People on the Move - Melvin moves to Merrill for business development role.
August 14, 2006... Merrill Lynch Investment Managers has poached Sarah Melvin from Gartmore Investment Management to become its director of strategy and business development in Europe, Middle East and Africa. At Gartmore Ms Melvin was responsible for delivering...

News: People on the Move - Investit takes on Sullivan for consultant appointment.
August 14, 2006... Investit has appointed Jonah Sullivan as a consultant. Ms Sullivan, who joins from Pioneer Investments, will work across a number of practices and will report to principal Catherine Doherty. Prior her time at Pioneer, Ms Sullivan worked at...

News: People on the Move - Prolific poaching from Axa to kick-start new currency team.
August 14, 2006... Axa Investment Managers has kickstarted its new currency management team by poaching Andrew Dales and Jean-Philippe Gruvel from Barclays Global Investors (BGI). These are the first in a planned series of hires, according to Paul Griffiths, UK...

News: People on the Move - Coles complements Horsfall on F&C international funds.
August 14, 2006... Terry Coles has joined F&C as alternate manager to Sophie Horsfall on the firm's international funds. Formerly junior portfolio manager for global equity at Morgan Stanley, Mr Coles will help to run the global equity funds for the continential...

News: People on the Move - Pike promoted as Watson Wyatt ups European presence.
August 14, 2006... The consultant Watson Wyatt has promoted Martin Pike, head of UK insurance and financial services, to the new role of European director of insurance and financial services. The move reflects Watson Wyatt's expanding presence in Europe,...

News: People on the Move - Fidelity sways Morse for development director job.
August 14, 2006... Phil Morse has quit as multi-manager product specialist at Gartmore for mutual funds giant Fidelity International. Mr Morse joins as business development director in Fidelity's multi-manager team in London. The appointment comes in the wake of...

News: F&C drops assets but keeps fee revenues stable.
August 14, 2006... Byline: Chris Newlands/Elizabeth Cripps F&C Asset Management has reported pre-tax losses of E43.3m - including a E66.5m impairment charge - for the six months to the end of June, as its asset under management fell from E194bn to E159bn. The...

News: Managers need to realise that it's a marathon not a sprint.
August 14, 2006... Byline: Elizabeth Cripps A dramatic change of focus is needed in the manager review process if active long-term (LTLO) investing is to become a reality. This is the warning from the Marathon Club, which is collating responses from...

News Analysis: Funding hole grows as UK firms plug gap.
August 14, 2006... Byline: Chris Newlands Pension fund deficits in continental Europe increased by almost 7.5 per cent last year while shortfalls in the UK fell by GBP1bn (E1.48bn) over the 12 months to July, according to the results of consultant Lane Clark...

Comment: Leader - A question of definition over scheme deficits.
August 14, 2006... Byline: Liam Kennedy Actuarial firms seem to be competing with one another to produce monthly figures on pension fund deficits. What does this information tell us? For one, this increase in transparency on pension funding tells us...

Comment: World View - Perspective on dismal equity summer.
August 14, 2006... Byline: Klaudius Sobczyk The summer, particularly August and September, tends to be a time of uncertainty and despair for equity investors. According to the Stock Traders Almanac, August has tended to be an exceptionally good month only...

Comment: Industry Voice - Heads I win, tails you lose.
August 14, 2006... Byline: Alan J. Brown Risk and return are indivisible. They are two sides of the same coin. When we focus on pension funds, historically we have tended to think in the context of investment risk. And investment risk traditionally was...

Comment: Perhaps its time to broach benefits.
August 14, 2006... HSBC stuffed more than GBP1.3bn (e1.9bn) into its pension fund in 2005, Royal Dutch Shell pushed some GBP700m into its fund and GlaxoSmithkline topped up its scheme to the tune of GBP673m last year, but only one in four UK job advertisements...

Pension Pooling: Pooling - where few have dared to tread.
August 14, 2006... Byline: Michael Lennert Whenever the subject of asset pooling crops up, terms like entity pooling, virtual pooling and preferred provider solution are never far away. But where are the dividing lines between these concepts? Clearly,...

Focus: Target Return Bond Funds - Pulling the trigger on target return.
August 14, 2006... Byline: Chris Newlands Without question, there are a large number of target return bond funds coming to the market, but what can be disputed is the amount of pension fund money flowing into these vehicles. "If you examine the interest...

Focus: Target Return Bond Funds - UK funds yet to feel the pressure for LDI take-up.
August 14, 2006... Byline: Chris Newlands More than a fifth of European institutional investors are considering using an liability driven investment (LDI) strategy while 19 per cent of investors already adopt an LDI approach - according to a recent survey by...

Fund Profile: Vodafone Germany - Phone giant makes a DC connection.
August 14, 2006... Byline: Michael Lennert Vodafone Germany decided to remove its pension obligations from its balance sheet as early as March 2003 and to transfer them to a contractual trust arrangement (CTA), the preferred vehicle for German corporates...

Pensions Snapshot: United Kingdom.
August 14, 2006... Byline: Kalpana Fitzpatrick With occupational pension funds making up the majority of retirement provision in the UK compared to elsewhere in Europe, the battle to come up with a sustainable system to support the ageing population...