epn: European Pensions & Investment News articles from March 2005

epn: European Pensions & Investment News archives from March 2005

News: Dutch treasury to offer E10bn 30-year bond.
March 14, 2005... Just one month after the French Treasury announced the issue of its E6bn 50- year bond, the Dutch State Treasury Agency has revealed it will come to the market with a euro-denominated 30-year deal that will be reopened to a maximum of E10bn....

News: DAX-30 employees reject supplementary provision finds dpn survey.
March 14, 2005... Less than 28 per cent of the employees of German companies listed on the Dax- 30 index have made use of the supplementary occupational pension vehicle provided by their employer, according to research carried out by our sister publication dpn....

News: Fair-value heralds change.
March 14, 2005... ABP, the E168bn Dutch pension scheme for government employees, has hinted that it will use interest-rate swaps to combat the expected rise in duration risk when it and the rest of the Dutch market moves to fair-value liability accounting at the...

News: KBC to double private equity and raise property to 10 per cent of fund assets.
March 14, 2005... KBC Pensioenfonds, the second largest pension scheme in Belgium at E700m, is looking to double its allocation to private equity and increase its exposure to property to 10 per cent of its total assets. "We currently have a 57 per cent...

News: News in brief.
March 14, 2005... UK REVEALS PROTECTION LEVELS The UK department of work and pensions (DWP) has announced that under its GBP576m Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS), employees who lost their pension entitlements as a result of underfunding, and who are within...

News: Carnegie and Max Matthiessen close deal to cross-sell products.
March 14, 2005... Swedish financial services firms Carnegie and Max Matthiessen have entered into a strategic long-term agreement that will see each firm cross-selling the other's services and products. Customers of Carnegie, a leading Swedish investment...

News: Ilmarinen opts for commodities.
March 14, 2005... Finland's leading pension insurance company, Ilmarinen, is considering plans to invest more heavily in the Finnish market. It is also planning to invest an unspecified proportion of its E17.7bn portfolio in commodities, and its property...

News: Norway's petrol fund burns brightly.
March 14, 2005... The NKr1016.4bn (E124bn) Norwegian Government Petroleum Fund outperformed its benchmark again in 2004. The fund achieved a total return of 8.9 per cent for 2004, representing a gross excess return of 0.53 percentage points. Approximately...

News: PKA places $100m with Private Equity Partners.
March 14, 2005... Denmark's E12bn Pensionkassernes Administration (PKA) has committed $100m (E75.65m) to the Private Equity Partners (PEP) 2004 fund managed by Goldman Sachs Asset Management. Michael Nelleman Pedersen, CIO of PKA, told epn that this new...

News: NTGI turns to US market.
March 14, 2005... Northern Trust Global Investors has launched a Dublin-domiciled North American enhanced equity fund with seed money worth e100m from a passive continental European pension fund investor. The investment manager also plans to bring European and...

News: People on the move.
March 14, 2005... NEW MD FOR ETERA Etera, the E4.6bn Finnish mutual insurance fund, has appointed Kalevi Hemila as its managing director. Hemila will join Etera in April 2005 and assume full responsibility when the incumbent managing director Lauri...

News: Overhaul of Greek pensions draws nearer as new inquiry gets underway.
March 14, 2005... A new inquiry into the Greek pensions system initiated by the ministry of finance and the ongoing debate about pensions in the Greek banking sector are likely to result in an overhaul of the Greek pensions system. Gabriel Amitsis, head of...

News: Book review.
March 14, 2005... Active Index Investing, pp.688, John Wiley & Sons, 2004 ISBN-471-25707-9 In 1974, John Bogle, the founder of the Vanguard Group, launched the first index fund amidst catcalls from those in the fund management industry. The new product...

News: Pictet markets downside protection.
March 14, 2005... As Swiss pension funds face significant underfunding problems, Geneva-based Pictet Asset Management is marketing alternatives to traditional balanced management. From the calm of its Geneva headquarters, and as it celebrates the two-...

News: BHW Invest unveils new strategy and new product portfolio.
March 14, 2005... Frankfurt's BHW Invest is planning to expand its operations to offer hedge funds-of-funds, multi-asset class funds and the administration of workplace savings accounts. Hans-Jurgen Dannheisig, managing director for sales and marketing,...

Comment: Leader - Not every discount is a bargain.
March 14, 2005... At the end of the 1990s and in the run-up to its pension reform programme of 2001-02, the German government responded to calls for a more modern, defined contribution-orientated system of pension saving by creating the Pensionsfonds. ...

Comment: World View - Inflation: the spectre at the feast.
March 14, 2005... Inflation is a word that returns repeatedly to investors' minds, especially now that energy and commodity prices are rising. Even Alan Greenspan has recently warned the markets not to be too sanguine about inflationary threats. ...

Comment: Industry Voice - A weak consitution?
March 14, 2005... What happens in Europe over the next two years is of immense importance to its citizens and will shape the political and economic landscape of the continent for the foreseeable future. In June 2004, Europe's leaders agreed to adopt the new...

Comment: Mephisto.
March 14, 2005... Mephisto can only guess at the size of the celebrations in the streets of London earlier this month when the UK's department of work and pensions announced that every victim of company pension scheme wind-ups - provided that they are three...

Pensionsfonds: Scope for optimism?
March 14, 2005... In the three years since its inception as an occupational pensions vehicle, the Pensionsfonds has attracted extremely limited contributions. Annual payments to Pensionsfonds from individual employees hover around the single or very low double...

Special Focus: Equities - Swallowing the bitter pill.
March 14, 2005... The pressure on pension fund managers to increase their exposure to fixed- income instruments at the expense of all other assets - particularly equities - is hefty. Changes to pension funding rules across Europe, such as the 2006...

Special Focus: Equities - Fair value: driving a shift out of equities?
March 14, 2005... The long-awaited switch to fair-value accounting in the Netherlands is almost upon Dutch pension fund managers. As a part of the new financial assessment framework, which kicks in at the start of next year, schemes will have to pass three...

Special Focus: Equities - Equities catch the eye of pension fund managers.
March 14, 2005... The pressure is mounting on pension fund managers to beef up their exposure to bonds; however, returns in the equity market are proving hard to resist. According to the latest statistics from ABN Amro's Global Investment Returns Yearbook,...

Special Focus: Equities - Taking the global view.
March 14, 2005... Increasingly, consultants are advising pension funds to take more account of their liabilities when investing in equities. But as average equity investment levels in countries such as the UK decline year on year, investors are being urged by...

Pension Fund Profile: Oyak - Turkish army fund unveils diversification strategy.
March 14, 2005... Turkey's $1.4bn (e1.06bn) OYAK pension fund, established in 1961 for members of the Turkish armed forces, is the country's first and largest private pension fund. Today, OYAK forms an integral part of the OYAK Group, a conglomerate that has...

Pensions Snapshot: Sweden.
March 14, 2005... The Swedish Association of Institutions for Retirement Provision (SIRP) is looking to the forthcoming adoption of the pan-European directive governing occupational and retirement pensions to spark greater investment freedom for pension funds....

News: Dutch move to block compulsory outsourcing.
March 28, 2005... The Dutch government's advisory body on labour issues is fighting proposals that would oblige the country's pension funds to outsource or spin off asset management and administration activities. The lower house in the Dutch parliament is to...

News: Hedge fund demand outstrips capacity.
March 28, 2005... Consultants Watson Wyatt estimate that current growth in hedge funds outweighs skilled capacity by a factor of four to one. Multi-strategy funds of funds will have difficulty growing without experiencing a decline in quality. Watson...

News: DeAM German product launch.
March 28, 2005... Deutsche Asset Management (DeAM) is to launch a multi-manager platform in the German market. It has also appointed the independent consultant Risk Management Consulting for the selection of managers and ongoing monitoring. DeAM plans to...

News: UK treasury announces further 50-year issues.
March 28, 2005... After becoming the first European country to show an interest in issuing 50- year bonds, the UK's debt management office (DMO) has announced that it will issue conventional and index-linked 50-year gilts. The first deal will fall in May. ...

News: Finnair to transfer E500m Ilmarinen.
March 28, 2005... Finnair is to dissolve its E76m pension fund and transfer the funds and further assets to cover unfunded liabilities to Finnish mutual pension insurer Ilmarinen. The transaction is expected to take place in the beginning of July. Mika...

News: Dutch prepare for regulation.
March 28, 2005... Dutch pension funds invested significantly more in bonds than in equities during 2004 as they prepare for the new FTK regulation, which will require them to match the profile of their investments to that of their liabilities, according to the...

News: SSgA announces new head for non-US ops.
March 28, 2005... In a bid to boost its non-US operations, Boston-based State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) has appointed Mark Lazberger, CEO of SSgA in Japan, as head of the international businesses. State Street as a whole is focusing on its non-US...

News: News in brief.
March 28, 2005... UK FUND DEFICIT TOPS GBP63BN FTSE 100 companies' pension deficit reached GBP63bn (E90.1bn) at the end of February, according to the latest survey by consultants Watson Wyatt. Despite a 2.4 per cent increase in the FTSE 100 index over...

News: Citigroup consolidates its German presence.
March 28, 2005... Citigroup Alternative Investments (CAI) hopes to consolidate its position within the German market with the appointment of David Barker as managing director of European institutional sales. Plans are already being drawn up within CAI either...

News: FTSE4Good drops nine companies.
March 28, 2005... Nine European companies have been dropped by the FTSE4Good index for failing to meet its social responsibility criteria. They include seven UK and two Italian companies. All but one of the UK companies, the Ashtead Group, a support services...

News: People on the move.
March 28, 2005... TICKLE JOINS CSAM AS NEW CFO Credit Suisse Asset Management (CSAM) has appointed Mark Tickle as chief financial officer for the UK, France, Eastern Europe and Spain. Mr Tickle joins from JP Morgan Fleming where he was European CFO of...

News: BWK launches commodities fund on the back of rising oil and gold prices.
March 28, 2005... German asset manager Baden-Wurttembergische Kapitalanlagegesellschaft (BWK) has its sights set on capitalising on recent exponential rises in the price of both oil and gold with the launch of a new commodities fund. Gerhard Single will...

News: PSolve targets institutional and private investors with prospect of 20% returns.
March 28, 2005... US hedge fund specialists PSolve Alternative Investments (PAI) has launched a new fund of hedge funds that aims for returns up to 20 per cent. Aimed at pension funds and high-net-worth individuals, the Select Opportunities fund focuses on...

News: Bismarck Ireland move outflanks regulator.
March 28, 2005... German financial services firm Graf von Bismarck & Associates has re- registered two of its hedge funds and made them tax transparent to be able to offer them to German investors. The S&P Hedge Fund Index Tracker and the Taktik fund with...

News: Hedge funds set to take portfolio centre stage.
March 28, 2005... Hedge funds are set to become an integral part of institutional portfolios over the next three years, according to a survey conducted by American financial player State Street. The firm's institutional investor hedge fund survey, conducted...

News: SFB unveils PensioenPlan.
March 28, 2005... The SFB group, which manages the assets of Dutch pension funds including the E21.5bn building industry fund, has launched a second-pillar pension product to enable individuals to plug gaps in their occupational pension provision. Its...

News: TNO outsources administration.
March 28, 2005... Foundation pension fund TNO has announced that it will outsource its asset administation function to Amsterdam-based KAS Bank. Commenting on the new partnership, TNO director Erik van Ballegooijen said: "Due to our cooperating over several...

News: SSgA lands $160m BankPension mandate.
March 28, 2005... BankPension, a pension fund for a group of Danish financial firms, has awarded a $160m (E120m) mandate to State StreetGlobal Advisors. SSgA will manage the funds in a global enhanced equity mandate. Jyske Invest Administration will...

News: Russell/Mellon records second year of double-digit growth for UK pension funds.
March 28, 2005... UK pension funds returned 10.4 per cent last year and clawed back the deficits of 2000, 2001 and 2002, according to research from Russell/Mellon that took in 672 pension funds with GBP178bn under management. Last year's double-digit...

News: Actuaries should be subject to effective external regulation, says Sir Derek Morris.
March 28, 2005... Actuaries are insular, slow to adapt to change and have opaque business practices, according to the Morris Review published last week. Sir Derek Morris, the former head of the Competition Commission, has published his proposals to introduce...

Comment: Leader - The next challenge: staff remuneration.
March 28, 2005... European pension funds face similar challenges in designing and implementing a governance structure capable of addressing the challenges facing investment in the twenty-first century. This structure must take into account a variety of...

Comment: World View - Bull or bear market?
March 28, 2005... Arguments rage as to whether the current stock market is in a bull or bear market phase, and any daily or weekly market weakness are often explained with reference to either one of them, with the terms 'secular' or 'cyclical' added as a...

Comment: Industry Voice - Proactive implementation.
March 28, 2005... The Frankfurt-based Committee of European Insurance and Occupational pensions Supervisors (CEIOPS) is finally playing a more proactive role in the complex process of implementing the EU pension fund directive, due to be finalised by next...

Comment: Mephisto.
March 28, 2005... Mephisto does enjoy a drink. And so you can imagine how his face lit up when an invitation to State Street's annual NAPF investment conference dinner at the Scotch Whisky Heritage Centre in Edinburgh landed on his desk a couple of weeks ago....

Fixed Income Roundtable.
March 28, 2005... The questions 1. How are changes in regulation affecting pension funds' fixed income holdings? 2. The French treasury has already issued a 50-year note - will there be more to come this year from other countries? 3. Are investment...

Special Focus: Netherlands - Shaken from their slumber.
March 28, 2005... Pension funds are looking closely at how to implement the new FTK solvency and continuity test rules. But just as poorly performing equity markets took their toll on pension fund solvency levels in 2001 and 2002, so today's low interest rates...

Special Focus: Netherlands - Dutch funds: 2004 summary.
March 28, 2005... Both the VB umbrella organisation for industry-wide pension funds (VB) and the Opf, its counterpart for company funds, have reported that pension fund premiums have risen significantly in 2005 - more so in the case of company funds. It also...

Special Focus: Netherlands - Rethinking commodities.
March 28, 2005... It used to be a much ignored asset class, but after years of double-digit returns, commodities are back in fashion. Traditionally, Dutch pension funds have been at the forefront of commodity investing, boosting returns as a result. But now,...

Special Focus: Netherlands - Dutch in-house managers follow the money.
March 28, 2005... Dutch pension funds need to pay key staff more to compete in the investment industry, say experienced in-house executives. In the first months of this year, key personnel have left Unilever's Progress Fund, Philips' fund and the metalworkers'...

Special Focus: Netherlands - Those were the days.
March 28, 2005... The cosy world of investment consultancy has gone for ever. No longer are investment decisions as simple as opting for Dutch government bonds with a little of the AEX and perhaps some property to complete the mix. Gone are the days when high...

Pension Fund Profile: KBC - Hedging away from equities.
March 28, 2005... KBC Pensioenfonds, the second largest pension scheme in Belgium at [700m, is at a crossroads. Before the equity market fallout of 2002 and 2003, the fund boasted a buffer of some [200m. That cushion has now fallen to around [85m, and Edwin...

Pensions Snapshot: Portugal.
March 28, 2005... The Socialist Party's election victory in February has thrown Portugal's pension reform plans into disarray. Accusations flew during the election campaign that leader Jose Socrates' populist plans to slash income tax and increase pensions and...