epn: European Pensions & Investment News articles from July 2002

epn: European Pensions & Investment News archives from July 2002

News: Icelandic bank launches first multi-company Assep.
July 22, 2002... The Lausanne arm of the Icelandic financial services provider Kaupthing Bank is to launch the first multi-company Assep, the Luxembourg-domiciled pension vehicle designed for a cross-border membership of mobile expatriates. The only three...

News: German media fund 'will beat MetallRente on price'.
July 22, 2002... The German media and printing industries have negotiated the creation of a sector Pensionskasse, which promises to offer better terms and conditions than MetallRente, the new scheme for the metal and electronics industries. The...

News: MFS wins E100m equity mandate.
July 22, 2002... LSR, Iceland's largest pension fund, has appointed MFS to a US$100m (E100m) segregated global equity mandate. LSR represents all government employees. The E1.3bn fund is expected to double in size over the next five years. Pension...

News: Pickering report calls for solo pension benefits.
July 22, 2002... Occupational schemes should be free to stop offering survivors' benefits for widows, widowers and orphans, according to a report on UK pensions. The author, Alan Pickering, also believes schemes should be allowed to operate without...

News: Union strikes to keep open E210m final salary steel scheme.
July 22, 2002... UK steel company Caparo has agreed to let trade union representatives examine its pension fund accounts following industrial action because of the firm's closure of its defined benefit scheme. The ISTC union stepped up its industrial action...

Scheme News: Swiss cut will be challenged.
July 22, 2002... The swiss government's decision to cut pension funds' required minimum annual return from 4% to 3% may not be a fait accompli. The BVG-Commission will propose instead a return calculated against a mixed index of investments, including short...

Scheme News: Handelsbanken Liv will open up E4bn to competition.
July 22, 2002... Up to SKr 37bn (E4bn) in Swedish pension assets could be up for grabs as Handelsbanken Liv changes its policy to allow occupational pension funds to transfer their assets out of the company. The demutualised life insurer opened the door for...

Investment News: Ericsson under pressure.
July 22, 2002... Ericsson's third largest shareholder has publicly cast doubts on its long- awaited share issue. Swedish pensions company Alecta fears dilution of its rights if the mobile phone manufacturer sticks to its capital-raising plans. Ericsson's...

Investment News: Sarasin launches sustainable fixed income fund.
July 22, 2002... The Basel-based asset management arm of Bank Sarasin is to launch a sustainable fixed income fund for institutional investors this September, in conjunction with the German Universal Investment Group. The Sarasin Universal FairInvest Bonds...

People on the move: Allan moves to high Societe role.
July 22, 2002... Rupert Allan has joined Tremont TASS (Europe) Limited from Societe Generale to head up marketing and business development for the alternative investment information provider. He will be managing director of the UK-based subsidiary with...

People on the move: Pimco hires Pardi for business development.
July 22, 2002... PIMCO, the US-based fixed income manager within the Allianz group, has hired PeterPaul Pardi to head up Southern European business development. He joins from Barclays Global Investors (BGI), where he carried out a similar role. BGI said...

People on the move: Fleck takes on director role at Janus.
July 22, 2002... The US fund management group Janus has appointed Thomas Fleck as regional director for German-speaking Europe. He was previously head of sales for Europe at AdvisorTech and head of marketing for institutional and retail funds in Germany and...

People on the move: Reech's derivative arm grabs Chaplin.
July 22, 2002... Reech Capital has hired Geoff Chaplin to head its credit derivatives arm. Chaplin, who has developed credit derivatives trading and modelling at Nomura International and ABN AMRO said that he wants to be able to offer up-to-date market...

Hedge Fund Profile: Clinton Riverside Fund - Arbitrage star still shines.
July 22, 2002... How can investors consistently make money with low volatility, even in volatile markets? For many years, the answer was convertible arbitrage hedge funds. Everything was going in the right direction for convertible bond arbitrage managers:...

Comment & Analysis: Continent cut off by fog in the Channel.
July 22, 2002... Insolvent companies in the UK almost always leave behind insolvent pension funds. Clearly someone is not doing their job. Many stand at the scene of the crime. Actuaries have failed to provide transparent financial information to their clients....

Comment & Analysis: Systemic risk and the lender's dilemma.
July 22, 2002... It's been hell on the markets over the past two months. If there is one sense of direction for equities, it is south. It has become very difficult to find a catalyst for a recovery. Many European and North American markets have now reached...

Leader: The future of saving in the UK.
July 22, 2002... The best part of a million people in the UK took out a stakeholder pension in the first year of the new regime. If these people save consistently in decades to come, then New Labour's sickly child may yet grow up to be healthy, and support...

Special Survey: Switzerland - Horns of the dilemma.
July 22, 2002... The Swiss federal government took the country by surprise this month when it reduced the minimum return payable on defined contribution (DC) plans from 4% to 3%. A Bundesrat decision in April, amending some of the rules governing the...

Special Survey: Switzerland - No change would have been better.
July 22, 2002... Larger Swiss funds are clearly in a better position to establish and maintain volatility reserves. This means that others, such as smaller and more recently established funds, have been affected the most since they have not had the opportunity...

Special Survey: Switzerland - Academic calls for fund mergers.
July 22, 2002... Switzerland has some 9,000 pension institutions and around 2,600 Pensionskassen. Many of these are small organisations with assets of less than SFr200m (E136m) and so outsource their management to insurers or award balanced briefs - still the...

Special Survey: Switzerland - Equity outweighs debt for first time.
July 22, 2002... Equities accounted for a greater share of Swiss pension fund assets than fixed income investments for the first time ever in 2000, according to latest state figures. Shares made 33% of total portfolios, in comparison with 31% for bonds. Poor...

Fund Portrait: Inarcassa - Escaping the bond culture.
July 22, 2002... One can be forgiven for thinking that Italy only began occupational pension funds in 1998, such was the fanfare. Yet older industrywide arrangements for the country's professionals, such as journalists, notaries, lawyers and doctors, have...

Pensions Snapshot: United Kingdom.
July 22, 2002... "It is virtually inconceivable that individuals, acting alone, will be able to defer enough current consumption to provide for an adequate retirement income. People are failing to save enough not because of personal inadequacy, lack of prudence...