epn: European Pensions & Investment News articles from July 2006

epn: European Pensions & Investment News archives from July 2006

News: Mn and Cordares alliance to target European expansion.
July 3, 2006... Byline: Bram van den Oever Mn Services and Cordares, the Dutch pension asset management companies, are to enter into a strategic alliance to create a single product range and administrative abilities. The move comes two years after a...

News: Sixth Dutch fiduciary mandate puts GSAM out in front.
July 3, 2006... Byline: Liam Kennedy Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM) has won its sixth big fiduciary management outsourcing deal in the Netherlands. The mandate, E750m from the Oce company pension fund, follows May's E5.4bn award from the Vervoer...

News: CEIOPS chairman launches defence of solvency II rules.
July 3, 2006... Byline: Liam Kennedy The chairman of the Committee of European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Supervisors (CEIOPS) has advocated the application of solvency II-type rules for pension funds. [] He used the twenty fifth anniversary...

News: PPF aims to reduce risk and boost trust.
July 3, 2006... Byline: Klaudius Sobczyk The Pension Protection Fund (PPF) in the UK will help schemes reduce risk by focusing on risk management and increasing overall confidence, it has claimed. [] In its medium term strategic plan, published earlier...

News: UK plc ups contributions in bid to plug scheme deficits.
July 3, 2006... Byline: Chris Newlands Sixty per cent of UK firms made pension contributions over and above normal statutory requirements in order to plug their scheme deficits last year, according to a survey of more than 100 CFOs and treasurers by...

News: Aberdeen AM unveils plans to open Tokyo research office with two new appointments.
July 3, 2006... Byline: Chris Newlands Aberdeen Asset Management is planning to open a research office in Tokyo and apply for a licence so that it can manage money out of Japan. [] Andrew Gillan, investment manager, Asian equities, at Aberdeen told epn...

News in Brief: Stroud set to retire from Pensions Trust after 28 years.
July 3, 2006... UK's GBP3bn (e4.3bn) Pensions Trust has announced that its chief executive Richard Stroud will retire at the end of April 2007 after 28 years of service at the Trust. Mr Stroud will continue to support the Trust, which has begun the process of...

News in Brief: Ilmarinen targets small and mid-sized Finnish funds.
July 3, 2006... Ilmarinen, the e21bn Finnish mutual pension insurance company, is launching a new fund investing in private equity at small and mid- sized Finnish companies. OKO Venture Capital, a subsidiary of OKO Bank, will manage the product. The firm has...

News in Brief: Threedneedle eyes JPMorgan for outsourced services.
July 3, 2006... Threadneedle Investments has entered into exclusive negotiations with JPMorgan Chase Bank with a view to appointing JPMorgan as its chosen provider of outsourced investment operations services. The two firms expect to finalise contractual...

News in Brief: Axa IM builds currency team.
July 3, 2006... Axa Investment Managers has created a currency management team, appointing Andrew Dales as head of currency management from Barclays Global Investors (BGI), where he was an investment strategist for the global market strategy group. He will...

News in Brief: Dexion teams up with Deutsche for distribution initiative.
July 3, 2006... Dexion Capital, the manager of exchange-traded funds of hedge funds, has announced a new distribution initiative with Deutsche Bank to broaden the global reach of its products. Gareth James, global head of hedge fund derivatives at Deutsche...

News: Van Aken appointment leads Fortis charge towards LDI.
July 3, 2006... Byline: Christine Senior Fortis Investments is looking to market its liability driven investment (LDI) product in Germany following the appointment of Alexander van Aken to the new positon of head of LDI. [] Fortis plans to expand its LDI...

News: Three boost LGIM structured solutions team.
July 3, 2006... Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM) has made three new appointments to its structured solutions team. [] Anton Eser joins from Aegon Asset Management where he was head of structured products; Kerrigan Procter joins from the Royal Bank...

People on the Move: Fulwood and Agnew join the ranks at Henderson.
July 3, 2006... Henderson Global Investors has appointed Mark Fulwood as associate director of institutional business. Mr Fulwood joins from Deutsche Asset Management where he spent the last four years as a global and EAFE portfolio analyst. At Henderson he...

People on the Move: Vose targets global developed markets for SWIP.
July 3, 2006... Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP) has appointed Ian Vose as head of global developed markets. Mr Vose joins SWIP following five years at Allianz Global Investors, initially as global head of research before being appointed CIO of...

People on the Move: Van der Wal appointed for managing director post at ING.
July 3, 2006... ING Investment Management has appointed Arthur van der Wal as managing director, institutional clients. Mr Van der Wal is currently the head of the relation management team for institutional clients. He joined ING in 1996 and spent four of the...

People on the Move: Dalgliesh takes on pacific equities director role at F&C.
July 3, 2006... F&C has appointed Peter Dalgliesh as director, pacific equities. Mr Dalgliesh joins F&C from Gartmore Investment Management, where he has worked as a fund manager since 2002. At F&C he will take lead responsibility for the management of Pacific...

People on the Move: SGAM builds real estate team.
July 3, 2006... Societe Generale Asset Management Alternative Investments (SGAM AI) has made several new appointments in its real estate area. Jean- Christophe Ginet, previously managing director strategy and development, becomes global head of SGAM AI Real...

People on the Move: Heskett moves on from Barings for EPIC job.
July 3, 2006... EPIC Investment Advisers in London has appointed John Heskett as an associate member. Most recently, Mr Heskett was group head of sales, business development and client services at Barings. He is chairman of Heartwood Wealth Group and sits on...

People on the Move: Benz moves up at Pimco to head European accounts.
July 3, 2006... Pimco has appointed Bill Benz as the head of account management for the firm's clients in Europe. Mr Benz has been working at Pimco for over 20 years, most recently acting as its managing director responsible for the firm's client service...

People on the Move: Short makes leap to replace Armstrong at Axa Framlington.
July 3, 2006... Axa Framlington has appointed Tim Short as fund manager on its European desk. Mr Short joins Axa from Societe Generale Asset Management (SGAM), London, where he worked for the past nine years, most recently as senior fund manager. Mr Short...

News: F&C readies sterling version of Dutch euro LDI product.
July 3, 2006... Byline: Liam Kennedy F&C intends to launch a sterling-denominated version of its euro LDI product launched for the Dutch market in February this year. [] Richard Watts, co-head of asset liability management and insurance at F&C Asset...

News: Private equity joint venture with US boutique aims to bolster BIAM offering.
July 3, 2006... Byline: Christine Senior Bank of Ireland Asset Management is expanding into private equity with the establishment of a joint venture with US private equity firm Paul Capital Partners. The company has renewed its commitment to fix recent...

News: ATP halts plans to offer Folkeborsen to funds.
July 3, 2006... ATP, the E49bn Danish labour market supplementary pension scheme, has withdrawn plans to offer Folkeborsen, the electronic pension savings platform, as an investment option to Danish pension funds. [] Ellen Dalsgaard Zdravkovic, director at...

News: Oyak cuts foreign assets favour of bonds.
July 3, 2006... Oyak, the $2.5bn (E2bn) Turkish army pension fund, is cutting back on its foreign currency portfolio and expanding its fixed income holdings. [] Dr Caner (tm)ner, executive vice president of investments and information systems at Oyak, told epn...

News: Managers driven by client concerns on engagement.
July 3, 2006... Byline: Christine Senior Engagement is increasingly a factor in manager selection, according to a new survey from the Investment Management Association (IMA). [] In the IMA's third survey of fund manager engagement with companies, 13...

News: Univest advice seals Unilever scheme deal for Mercer.
July 3, 2006... Unilever's UK Pension Scheme has appointed Mercer Investment Consulting to advise on the GBP4.5bn (e6.5bn) scheme. [] The appointment follows Mercer's advice to the scheme in setting up an asset pooling vehicle, Univest, for the company's...

News: Balanced pooled funds come back to earth after April rise.
July 3, 2006... The latest UK CAPS pooled pension fund update shows that balanced pooled funds showed a return of -5.3 per cent in May, compared with April's 0.2 per cent rise. [] Figures covering one, three and five years to the end of May show balanced...

News: ABN Amro adds to SRI range with credit fund.
July 3, 2006... Byline: Christine Senior ABN Amro Asset Management has launched a low risk fixed income investment fund, the Sustainable Global Credit Fund. [] Fund manager Dirk Frikkee, along with a team of more than 10 investment professionals in the US...

News Analysis: UK funds play away from home.
July 3, 2006... Byline: Chris Newlands UK pension funds have increased their exposure to overseas equities and decreased their domestic stock holdings, according to UBS Global Asset Management's latest annual report: Pension Fund Indicators 2006. [] The...

Comment: Leader - EFRP party leaves pensions with solvency headache.
July 3, 2006... Byline: Liam Kennedy The champagne flowed at June's twenty fifth anniversary celebrations for the European Federation for Retirement Provision. But there were more than a few guests scratching their heads following the remarks of the chair...

Comment: World View - Are we in the eye of a correction storm?
July 3, 2006... Byline: Klaudius Sobczyk Following the equity market peak in 2000, it took a while for investors and markets to come to grips with the new situation of constantly falling equity markets in developed countries. However, the emerging markets...

Comment: Industry Voice - Setting up the skills to get shorting right.
July 3, 2006... Byline: Alistair Sayer As investors continue to search for additional sources of alpha, there has been growing interest in strategies that implement both long and short positions to increase the opportunity set for generating returns. []...

Comment: How can we avoid regulatory slip-ups?
July 3, 2006... Wry smiles were seen on a number of pension fund managers' faces when, for the second year in a row, regulatory overkill was identified as the greatest risk facing the financial sector in PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Centre for the Study of...

Interview: EFRP at 25 - Thinking for the long-term.
July 3, 2006... Byline: Liam Kennedy Celebrating 25 years of the European Federation for Retirement (EFRP) provision is clearly an auspicious occasion. But prior to the federation's celebratory conference and reception last month, both secretary general...

Focus: Nordic Region - Market correction sends windfall for Icelandic funds.
July 3, 2006... "Market chaos in Iceland," proclaimed one section of London's business press last month. With near-morbid fascination, another chronicled the Nordic island lurching "into its third week of crisis". [] But the siren voices started long before...

Focus: Nordic Region - Saving the blushes of red-light funds?
July 3, 2006... Byline: Chris Newlands Seven months on from the introduction of Finansinspektionen's (FI) traffic light supervisory system in Sweden and almost 1 per cent of life and pension investors - in terms of assets under management - have slipped...

Focus: Nordic Region - Roundtable: EPN spoke to four Swedish investors about their current and future concerns.(Discussion)
July 3, 2006... The Questions [] 1. How has its adoption of the traffic light system affected your fund? [] 2. What challenges are you currently facing in trying to generate sufficient returns for your fund members? [] 3. Are there any particular asset...

LDI and Buy-outs: Getting the best of both worlds with hybrids.
July 3, 2006... Byline: Mark Duffy and Guy Coughlan Both liability driven investment (LDI) and the buy-out of pension funds are hot topics for pension schemes at the moment. Each of these approaches has its merits but both fall short of an optimum solution...

Fund Profile: Vital - The four ingredients to ensure vitality.
July 3, 2006... Tom Rathke, CFO of Vital, the E27.24bn Norwegian pension insurance company, says the firm's investment strategy is based on four main principles: risk taking, diversification, monitoring of managers and thorough analysis. "Our goal and ambition...

Pensions Snapshot: Poland.
July 3, 2006... Since a three-pillar pension system was established in Poland in 1999, local pension funds have been criticising the inflexibility of the existing investment regime. [] Present regulations place a limit of 5 per cent on foreign assets and 40...

News: Should European investors grow forestry allocations?
July 17, 2006... Byline: Liam Kennedy Unlike their north American counterparts, European institutional investors are not known for their allocations to forestry land and timber. However, they should consider the asset class, according to a paper just...

News: UK increases assets as IMA highlights shift into bonds.
July 17, 2006... Assets managed by members of the UK Investment Management Association rose by over 29 per cent in 2005 according to the IMA's latest annual asset management survey, up from GBP2.16trn to GBP2.8trn (E3.12trn to E4trn). The survey also...

News: Stalwart funds keep faith in equities.
July 17, 2006... Byline: Chris Newlands Some 20 per cent of European pension and insurance funds polled in epn's latest quarterly investment survey plan to increase their exposure to equities despite recent equity market falls. The survey, which polled...

News: Deutsche beefs up investment division after Aberdeen sale.
July 17, 2006... Byline: Christine Senior Deutsche Asset Management has made several senior appointments in the wake of the sale of its UK investment business to Aberdeen. Two further senior appointments are Klaus Kaldemorgen, as global head of...

News: Morgan Stanley considers the merits of Dutch and German launches for LDI funds.
July 17, 2006... Byline: Chris Newlands Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MSIM) has launched two UK liability driven investment (LDI) funds and is also examining the possibility of introducing funds for Dutch and German institutional investors. ...

News: F&C calls on Dutch to publish voting records.
July 17, 2006... Asset managers should be responsible for disclosing Dutch pension funds' share voting records, according to F&C. The suggestion comes as the Dutch parliament is about to discuss compulsory vote disclosure for domestic pension institutions. ...

News in Brief: Dutch government resignation makes FTK uncertain.
July 17, 2006... The Dutch government's resignation last month means that the implementation date of the FTK, slated for 1 January, is now in question. The government is currently discussing which important issues should be passed on to the next government and...

News in Brief: Man adds close to 10 per cent to assets in second quarter.
July 17, 2006... Man Group, the UK-listed hedge fund house, increased its assets under management by $4.1bn to $54bn in the three months to the end of June. The firm's institutional assets under management grew from $19.5bn to $21.5bn despite experiencing...

News in Brief: Putnam turns to Dublin for double fund launch.
July 17, 2006... Putnam Investments has launched two new Dublin-domiciled products: the Total Return and Global Equity Multi-Alpha funds. The Total Return fund will invest its net assets in a diversified portfolio, which includes global equities, fixed income,...

News in Brief: Indexchange starts first non-Japan based Nikkei 225 ETF.
July 17, 2006... Indexchange has launched the first exchange traded fund based on the Nikkei 225 outside Japan. The ETF Nikkei 225EX can be traded via Xetra on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The ETF carries a low management fee and conforms to the Ucits III...

News: Axa Framlington to shelter multi-manager investments.
July 17, 2006... Byline: Chris Newlands Axa Framlington is to assume management of the firm's UK multi- management business from Axa Investment Managers. The UK business will continue to be known as Axa MM, although the intention is to bring it under the...

People on the Move: Murray assumes Baxter role as chief investment officer.
July 17, 2006... Old Mutual Asset Managers (UK) has appointed Eoin Murray, current head of quantitative strategies, as its chief investment officer. Mr Murray takes over the role from Peter Baxter who has been chief investment officer since September 2000 and...

News: People on the Move - Investec hires Goldman's George as investment analyst.
July 17, 2006... Investec Asset Management has poached Bradley George from Goldman Sachs to become an investment analyst within its investment team. Based in London, Mr George will report to Domenico Ferrini, the firm's investments director. At Goldman Mr...

News: People on the Move - Shake-up at CAAM sees Zaouati take on marketing role.
July 17, 2006... Philippe Zaouati has been appointed head of marketing at Credit Agricole Asset Management. Mr Zaouati moves internally from his previous role of head of client servicing. Prior to joining the firm, Mr Zaouati spent four years as head of product...

News: People on the Move - Deutsche loses client director as MPC approaches Lancaster.
July 17, 2006... MPC Investors has added to its institutional client service team with the appointment of Joanna Lancaster (pictured) from Deutsche Asset Management. Ms Lancaster becomes head of client services for UK institutions. At Deutsche, Ms Lancaster...

News: People on the Move - ABN Amro appoints Brown to newly created research post.
July 17, 2006... ABN Amro Asset Management has appointed Ella Brown as global head of equity research. Ms Brown, who will be responsible for the day- to-day management of firm's equity research, joins from Credit Suisse Asset Management where she headed up the...

News: People on the Move - Lehman structured assets hire sees Rougier quit BNP.
July 17, 2006... Lehman Brothers has added Stephane Rougier as a managing director and global head of its structured asset management business. He will report to Omar Abukhadra, European head of absolute return strategies. Mr Rougier joins from BNP Paribas...

News: People on the Move - Scattergood takes on products at Northern Trust.
July 17, 2006... Northern Trust Global Investments has hired Judith Scattergood as funds product manager in London. In this newly created role, Ms Scattergood is responsible for the management and development of the firm's international funds range - which...

News: Department for work and pensions accused of failing to understand transfer issues.
July 17, 2006... Byline: Kalpana Fitzpatrick The UK government has come under fire for failing to establish an appropriate solution for transfer values for members moving their benefits from one scheme to another. The government's Department for Work...

News: European alternative investment experts call for simplification of cross-border regulation.
July 17, 2006... Byline: Christine Senior The European private equity industry suffers from an overly complex fund structuring environment says a report from the European Commission's alternative investment expert Group. The report, Developing European...

News Analysis: Consultants under the spotlight.
July 17, 2006... Byline: Liam Kennedy How well do consultants really perform in manager selections? And to what degree are they influenced by past performance? When Blacket Research, the Edinbugh-based pension fund monitoring and assessment company,...

Comment: World View - Fed could finally be loosening its belt.
July 17, 2006... Byline: Klaudius Sobczyk Interest rates continue to rise in US, global equity markets sell off, and bond prices have already been falling for some time, so market participants are starting to ponder whether the latest rate increase was...

Comment: Industry Voice - No grace in the Spanish inquisition.
July 17, 2006... Byline: Leonardo Sforza In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes, wrote a resigned Benjamin Franklin. Although there is no 'scoop' that we can make on the possibility of reversing both certainties, recent EU initiatives are...

Comment: Cum grano salis?
July 17, 2006... Mephisto notes with interest the decision of the current Finnish presidency of the European Council to issue a newsletter in Latin. He spots a trend: Jaap Maassen, the chairman of the European Federation for Retirement Provision, recently told...

EPN Investment Outlook Survey: Investors keep the faith in equities after May battering.
July 17, 2006... Byline: Chris Newlands Despite the recent battering taken by the equity markets - which has seen the MSCI Europe fall from early May highs of 1,417 points to lows of 1,244 in June - European pension and insurance funds are still fairly...

FTK Update: Pension funds find voice in year of grace for financial framework.
July 17, 2006... Byline: Bram van den Oever In a scenario where history repeats itself, the new Dutch financial framework (FTK) whose introduction date has already been extended by a year, seems to be causing as many problems this year as it did last year....

Case Study: Exotic Beta - The hybrid approach to getting better beta.
July 17, 2006... Byline: Liam Kennedy The institutional investment world is increasingly turning its attention to harvesting well-rewarded beta sources as an alternative to alpha sources based on short-term trading skill. As institutional investors know,...

Fund Profile: ABB Pensionskasse - Swiss fund engineers a cautious and stable strategy.
July 17, 2006... Parent company ABB, the Swiss-Swedish engineering firm, may be reporting mixed results with E580m profits for 2005 while beset by asbestos claims in the US, but for Christoph Oeschger, CEO of ABB Pensionskasse, stability and caution are key for...

Pensions Snapshot: Italy.
July 17, 2006... Byline: Reeta Cevik The Italian pensions market is preparing itself for a reform (law 252/05), which was approved in November 2005 and which will come into force on 1 January 2008. The changes will give Italy a system for retirement...

News: IASB sets four-year timeline for new accounting review.
July 31, 2006... Byline: Stephen Wright-Bouvier The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) voted unanimously earlier this month to add a two-phase review ofpensions accounting to its agenda. During phase one of its review of IAS 19, the...

News: Schroders unveils multi-asset fund as part of FTK strategy.
July 31, 2006... Byline: Liam Kennedy Schroders has just registered its Luxembourg-based Global Diversified Growth mutual fund in the Netherlands. A sterling-denominated version of the strategy, which has a track record of around five years, is to be...

News: Currency hedging keeps Dutch funds in the black.
July 31, 2006... Byline: Christine Senior Dutch pension funds returned 0.4 per cent in the first half of 2006, according to data from WM Performance Services. The performance of the Dutch Pension Fund Index highlights the value of currency hedging:...

News: Hedge fund inflows hit record levels.
July 31, 2006... Byline: Christine Senior Some $42.1bn (e33.4bn) flowed into hedge funds in the second quarter of 2006, according to new research from Hedge Fund Research (HFR). This represents the highest figure since the firm began tracking quarterly...

News: BIAM's platforms overhauled as outflows sliced to e800m.
July 31, 2006... Byline: Chris Newlands Bank of Ireland Asset Management's (BIAM) asset outflows were stemmed to E800m from E1.9bn in the three months to the end of June, but consistent losses prompted the troubled Irish manager to overhaul its investment...

News: e64m GTAA tender shows shift to specialists.
July 31, 2006... Byline: Kalpana Fitzpatrick The GBP1.1bn (E1.6bn) North Yorkshire pension fund has ut out to tender for a GBP44m (e64m) global tatical asset allocation brief. The move follows a review of its equity investment strategy, which is slanted...

News: West Midlands to rein in risk.
July 31, 2006... One of UK's largest pension funds has put out to tender for a currency overlay mandate as part of a risk management strategy. The West Midlands pension fund currently has a GBP2bn (e2.9bn) overseas equities portfolio. The GBP6.6bn (e9.7bn)...

News in Brief: Dutch law increases pensioner and participant rights.
July 31, 2006... The planned new Dutch pension law has been altered to include co-decision making rights for pensioners and participants of a pension fund. This will be achieved either by the creation of a participants' council or by including a pensioner or...

News in Brief: Forbo recruits Mn as its investment manager.
July 31, 2006... Forbo Pension fund has become the latest investor to use Mn Services as its fiduciary manager with a E185m brief. The Dutch service provider will take on responsibility for investment returns and will advise the scheme on issues including...

News in Brief: Glaze adds shine to HSBC research team.
July 31, 2006... HSBC Investments has appointed Philip Glaze as global head of manager research from Russell. The newly created London-based position makes Mr Glaze responsible for the firm's multi-manager capability. In his previous role at Russell Investment...

News in Brief: Pioneer persuades Railpen's Williams to take a new track.
July 31, 2006... Pioneer Investments has poached Railpen's senior investment manager Griff Williams to become its institutional product strategist. Mr Williams will report to Paul Price, head of institutional business. Mr Williams' role will be to work closely...

News: NPRF claws positive return after tough market conditions.
July 31, 2006... Byline: Christine Senior The Irish National Pensions Reserve Fund posted a return of 1.3 per cent for the first six months of 2006, bringing the value of the fund to E16.3bn at the end of June. The sharp equity market correction in May...

News: NAPF surprised by Farnish decision to take Barclays policy post.
July 31, 2006... Christine Farnish, chief executive of the UK's National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) is to join Barclays as public policy director. She begins at the start of October. A replacement for Ms Farnish, who joined the NAPF in July 2002...

People on the Move: Taylor appointed as CEO for LPFA as Scales retires.
July 31, 2006... The London Pensions Fund Authority (LPFA) has appointed Mike Taylor as its new chief executive. He takes up his post on 18 September. Mr Taylor was formally an executive director at Surrey County Council. Mr Taylor replaces the retiring Peter...