epn: European Pensions & Investment News articles from March 2007

epn: European Pensions & Investment News archives from March 2007

News: ITP selection slammed for lack of choice and cost cutting.
March 12, 2007... The outcome of the manager selection process for the new Swedish ITP scheme - the pension plan for Swedish white-collar employees - has been slammed by Soderberg and Partners, one of two consultants to advise on the tendering process, for...

News: Swedish traffic light system set to illuminate firms' insurance risks and life expectancy.
March 12, 2007... Byline: Caroline Liinanki Finansinspektionen (FI), the Swedish financial supervisory authority, has launched a new version of the traffic-light model to include insurance risks - a move that is set to highlight the difference in the way...

News: MSIM poaches key GSAM man.
March 12, 2007... Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MSIM) has poached a key Goldman Sachs manager to head up its Europe, Middle East and Africa region. James Dilworth, previously head of GSAM in Germany, will report to Owen Thomas, MSIM's president, and...

News: Danica to enter Irish market by establishing a Dublin HQ.
March 12, 2007... Byline: Reeta Cevik Danica Pension, the Danish pension insurance company with assets of 32bn, is to site an offshore operation in Ireland before the end of the year. Ole Rosholm, first vice-president and head of international...

News: Northern Trust follows US lead with process patent.
March 12, 2007... Byline: Thomas Escritt Northern Trust has joined the host of financial services companies looking to win patent protection for their processes - but what works in the US may not go down well in Europe. The application, which is still...

News: T. Rowe Price unleashes alpha equity funds.
March 12, 2007... Byline: Chris Newlands T. Rowe Price has launched two high alpha seeking European equity funds. The two long-only funds - a pan-European equity vehicle and a Europe ex-UK fund - have no benchmark constraints and will invest in between 30...

News in Brief: Credit Agricole sees 27% surge in revenues to 4.92bn.
March 12, 2007... Credit Agricole has posted revenues of 4.92bn for 2006, an increase of 26.4 per cent on last year and also delivered a 3 percentage point rise in its cost/income ratio. The bank's asset management division also attracted new business, with...

News in Brief: FRR tenders for six managers.
March 12, 2007... FRR, the French pension reserve fund scheme, is tendering a passive eurozone large cap equity brief for which it will appoint three managers. It is also seeking two managers and one standby manager for a passive North American (US and Canada)...

News: Unilever shuts final salary scheme to its UK recruits.
March 12, 2007... Byline: Kalpana Fitzpatrick Unilever, the international manufacturer of brands in food, home care and personal care, has closed its UK final salary pension fund to new members. The Anglo-Dutch company will instead offer a career...

News: Hewitt strengthens its hand in Italy via Adelaide purchase.
March 12, 2007... Hewitt Associates has acquired Adelaide Consulting in Italy and opened a new office in Rome. The acquisition enables Hewitt to offer a broader range of human resources (HR) consulting and actuarial services in the Italian market, where it has...

News: People on the Move - State Street picks Walsh to head up investment servicing.
March 12, 2007... State Street Corporation has appointed Michael Walsh as head of investment servicing in the UK, Middle East and Africa. Mr Walsh will report to Peter O'Neill, executive vice-president and is replacing Peter Barker, who has become head of...

News: People on the Move - Rubinstein and Mason slot into position at Invesco.
March 12, 2007... Invesco Perpetual has appointed two new members of staff to its emerging markets team. Liesbeth Rubinstein, previously head of EMEA equities at Schroder Investment Management, joins as a fund manager in the emerging markets equities team and...

News: People on the Move - Wealth of appointments at Governance for Owners.
March 12, 2007... Governance for Owners (Go), the share owner advocacy partnership established by former Hermes directors Peter Butler and Steve Brown, has appointed Linda Scott to take operational responsibility for its US stewardship service. Ms Scott will...

News: People on the Move - Barclays makes beeline for Swiss by hiring Hubscher.
March 12, 2007... Barclays Global Investors has appointed Markus Hubscher to spearhead attempts to capture more of the Swiss institutional investment marketplace. The company already has a presence in the exchange-traded funds market in the country with a range...

News: People on the Move - ING names van Gelderen as head of Europe fixed income.
March 12, 2007... Eduard van Gelderen has been appointed head of fixed income Europe at ING Investment Management Europe. He is presently head of investments at Lombard Odier Institutional Asset Management. Mr van Gelderen will be responsible for the fixed...

News: People on the Move - Tinker tasked with setting up global equity fund at Axa.
March 12, 2007... Mark Tinker, previously a global strategist at Execution, has joined Axa Framlington as a portfolio manager. Mr Tinker will develop a new global equity proposition and start with the launch of a global long-short fund. Mr Tinker will report to...

News: Call for greater exposure to equities for Norway fund.
March 12, 2007... Byline: Caroline Liinanki The 225bn Norwegian Government Pension Fund - Global, formerly known as the Petroleum Fund, pulled in almost 8 per cent in international currency terms in 2006 - its lowest return for three years. The fund did,...

News: Foundations lag behind 'aggressive' US counterparts.
March 12, 2007... Byline: Thomas Escritt Legacy commitments and inertia are often a greater influence on European foundations' investment strategies than sound risk management or spending targets, Watson Wyatt has claimed. Referring to a new report on...

News: Study finds trustees falling out of love with UK stocks.
March 12, 2007... Byline: Thomas Escritt UK-only core equities houses could be facing a squeeze as trustees grow shy of UK equities, moving to more global asset allocations. This is among the conclusions of a report by Hymans Robertson, the actuarial...

News: Survey shows UK funds shifting from equities into real estate as a result of Myners' 2001 recommendations.
March 12, 2007... Byline: Chris Newlands Almost a fifth of UK pension funds increased their exposure to property last year while the number of funds investing in real estate grew by four percentage points, according to the results of the National...

News: Property poaching.
March 12, 2007... Standard Life Investments has poached Harry Humble from Dutch firm Aareal Asset Management - recently acquired by Schroders - to become its investment director and property product specialist. Mr Humble has been hired to lead the development of...

Comment: Leader - Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
March 12, 2007... Byline: Chris Newlands, editor Consultancy firms already had their press releases written - UK pension fund deficits were about to fall to their lowest levels in four years. Just as those releases were to be sent out, however, a violent...

Comment: World View - Yen speculation bound to end in tears.
March 12, 2007... Byline: Klaudius Sobczyk It seems currencies are back in vogue not only for financial markets but also for political gatherings such as the G7. This is despite the fact that the Asian currency crises of the 1990s should have taught us to...

Focus: Central and Eastern Europe - Fund managers naming their price.
March 12, 2007... Byline: Thomas Escritt Tight, illiquid markets are any fund manager's nightmare, unless of course fund managers themselves are the illiquid commodity - in which case, quids are in. If you are you looking to hire fund managers,...

Pensions Snapshot: Sweden.
March 12, 2007... Byline: Caroline Liinanki After more than a decade of negotiations, the new ITP scheme - the pension plan for Swedish white-collar employees - is finally ready for launch. Last month, 11 mandates were awarded to asset management and...

Comment: Industry Voice - With Italy on board, EU set for take-off.
March 12, 2007... Byline: Leonardo Sforza When looking at the overall wave of reforms that has been changing Europe's regulatory pension landscape, one cannot dismiss the positive role played by EU institutions. The complex European system of governance,...

Comment: Stats that validate north/south cliches.
March 12, 2007... Visitors to Brussels often send a postcard describing the perfect European. Faintly amusing, it suggests a European should combine, among other things, the culinary artistry of the British, the driving skills of the French, the loquaciousness...

Focus: Central and Eastern Europe - Polish funds bound by domestic bias.
March 12, 2007... Byline: Thomas Escritt With 95 per cent of their assets invested in domestic securities, Polish pension funds are taking a heavy country risk. The Polish market regulator's restrictive investment regime for private pension funds allows...

Council on Ethics: Norway's global fund goes forward ethically.
March 12, 2007... Byline: James Hydzik Ethical investing is the new buzzword with pension funds and now Norway's Government Pension Fund - Global has taken concrete steps to define and apply a set of considerations for its investments. With a massive...

Outsourcing: Keeping pace with a changing landscape.
March 12, 2007... Byline: Joachim Liese and Philip Michaelsen Insurance executives looking for a quiet life are likely to be disappointed. Far from slowing down, the pace of change in the global insurance market is likely to increase over the next few years....

Liability-driven Investment: LDI: a saviour, a good CGR or simply BGO?
March 12, 2007... Byline: Richard Graham The investment management industry has always had a love of jargon, and an element of this always works its way into investment meetings in spite of our best efforts. The language of tracking error and value at...

Fund Profile: VITNyP - A spark of independence from Hungary electricity fund.
March 12, 2007... In a market dominated by finance house-operated pension funds, Hungary's electricity industry companies pension fund (VIT) stands out as an independent, self-managed fund. A comparative minnow alongside the country's market leading OTP...

News: Barclays/ABN Amro merger could boost fiduciary business.
March 26, 2007... Byline: Thomas Escritt ABN Amro's weak fiduciary services offering could be given a boost if a proposed merger between Barclays and ABN Amro comes off, consultants say. It emerged last week that the UK's third-largest bank and the...

News: Denmark's PKA reveals increase in private equity exposure after appetite whetted by initial foray.
March 26, 2007... Byline: Reeta Cevik PKA, the 15.5bn administration company for occupational pension funds in Denmark, is increasing its exposure to private equity from 2 per cent to 5 per cent over the next two years. Michael Nellemann Pedersen, CIO...

News: Ilmarinen growing hedge fund assets.
March 26, 2007... Ilmarinen, the 23bn Finnish mutual pension insurance company, is considering increasing its exposure to hedge funds this year. "At present we have a 2.5 per cent exposure to hedge funds. We might expand this slightly, but most likely will...

News: UK equity mandates falling short of targets.
March 26, 2007... Byline: Caroline Liinanki The bulk of active UK and global equity mandates failed to achieve their objectives, according to the latest research by Mellon Analytical Solutions (MAS). While active managers performed well against their...

News: London council fund looking for adviser.
March 26, 2007... Byline: Kalpana Fitzpatrick The London Borough of Barking and Dagenham is looking to appoint an adviser for its pension fund. The council scheme put out to tender for a provider to help with advice on the Myners principles, and...

News: British firms ponder insurance liabilities shift.
March 26, 2007... Byline: Caroline Liinanki One in four UK companies is looking to transfer pension liabilities to insurance companies over the next five years if the cost of doing so reduces sufficiently, according to a poll taken at a recent Watson Wyatt...

News: Major Dutch funds charge towards full disclosure.
March 26, 2007... Byline: Thomas Escritt A group of major Dutch pension funds led by the civil servants' fund ABP have decided to disclose their full holdings and proxy voting records, a pension fund association has announced. Last week, ABP, the...

News: Norwegian fund tenders for property portfolio.
March 26, 2007... Byline: Caroline Liinanki The Norwegian ministry of finance is scouring the market for a company to evaluate tax issues for the Government Pension Fund - Global's impending move into property. Companies have until 12 April to apply for the...

News: News in Brief - Robeco teams up with local player for move into India.
March 26, 2007... Dutch asset manager Robeco is making a push towards India's mutual fund industry, partnering with Canara Bank of India in a joint asset management venture named Canara Robeco. The India-based joint venture, which is subject to regulatory...

News: News in Brief - Turkey sees exponential growth in funds' assets.
March 26, 2007... The assets of Turkey's 11 pension funds have increased by nearly 108 per cent in the past 12 months, the Turkish Pension Monitoring Centre (EGM) reports. In March 2006, the 11 funds operating in the country had total assets of 806m, which, by...

News: News in Brief - Commerzbank sells Jupiter.
March 26, 2007... The German bank Commerzbank has agreed to sell its UK asset management subsidiary, Jupiter, for a disclosed sum of over 1bn. Jupiter will be sold to the firm's senior management and private equity company TA Associates. Commerzbank said the...

News: Blow to CSAM as Aberdeen poaches magnificent seven.
March 26, 2007... Byline: Kalpana Fitzpatrick An entire seven-member property team at Credit Suisse Asset Management (CSAM) has defected to Aberdeen Property Investors (API) as API prepares to launch its first UK property fund. Glenn Newson, who leads...

News: Nordic integration sees Schroders shut Stockholm office.
March 26, 2007... Schroders Investment Management will close its Stockholm office on 30 June for all activities except property management. Its clients will be transferred to the Copenhagen office, which will take on responsibility for all Nordic operations. The...

News: People on the Move - Walker strolls into permanent PPF COO post.
March 26, 2007... The UK Pension Protection Fund (PPF) has announced that its interim chief operating officer Peter Walker has been appointed permanently. Mr Walker joined last year and worked as an interim executive for a number of international companies prior...

News: People on the Move - Buckle secures head of fixed income role at Principal.
March 26, 2007... Principal Global Investors has appointed David Buckle as European head of fixed income in its London office. Mr Buckle will also be responsible for developing the firm's UK and Pan-European investment strategies. He was previously head of...

News: People on the Move - Taylor takes on advisory appointment at Kroll.
March 26, 2007... Kroll's European Corporate Advisory & Restructuring Group has appointed Ken Taylor as director of its Pensions Advisory Team. Mr Taylor will assist defined benefit pension scheme trustees, employers and other stakeholders. He was previously a...

News: People on the Move - Shah moves from Sarasin to SGAM Euro equities position.
March 26, 2007... Societe Generale Asset Management (SGAM) has made an addition to its European equities fund management team with the appointment of Nishit Shah. He will join in June from Sarasin Chriswell. SGAM's European equity teams in Paris and London...

News: People on the Move - Global resources specialist Lun new recruit at First State.
March 26, 2007... First State has appointed Marcus Lun as a global resources specialist in its global equities team. Mr Lun, who will be responsible for analysing global resources stocks, will report to Habib Subjally, head of global equities. Mr Lun was...

News: People on the Move - Three new recruits bolster Aberdeen fixed income team.
March 26, 2007... Aberdeen Asset Management has made three new appointments to its fixed income teams in Europe and Asia Pacific. Donald Amstad will take up the role of head of fixed income - Asia Pacific in Singapore. He joins from JP Morgan Asset Management in...

News: Leub quits PGGM CIO role to switch to adviser post.
March 26, 2007... Byline: Kalpana Fitzpatrick Dutch pension fund PGGM has undergone yet another internal management shake- up, with Leo Leub stepping down as CIO investments after just one year in the job. Mr Leub, who until February 2006 was the fund's...

News: Poorly backed funds sticking their necks out for more aggressive strategies.
March 26, 2007... Byline: Kalpana Fitzpatrick Pension schemes backed by the weakest sponsoring employers are adopting more aggressive investment strategies, according to Lane Clark & Peacock's "Prudence Index". In addition, more than half of UK schemes...

News: Bridgeland steps up to BP chief exec position.
March 26, 2007... Sally Bridgeland, consultant at Hewitt Associates, is to replace Reg Hinkley as the new chief executive of the GBP12bn (17.6bn) BP Pension Trustees. Having joined Hewitt more than 20 years ago, she is currently responsible for directing a...

News: IMA appeals to European Commission to stall implementation of IASB's IFRS 8.
March 26, 2007... Byline: Kalpana Fitzpatrick The Investment Management Association (IMA) in the UK is attempting to put the brakes on the European Commission's adoption of the International Accounting Standard Board's IFRS 8. The IMA has written to the...

News: Making scheme specific funding easy.
March 26, 2007... The UK National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) has published a reference guide to the new funding regime for defined benefit pension schemes, introduced by the Pensions Act 2004. Scheme Specific Funding Made Simple - the latest title...

News Analysis: FI gives green light to insurance.
March 26, 2007... Byline: Caroline Liinanki Finansinspektionen (FI), the Swedish financial supervisory authority, has launched a new version of the traffic-light model that includes insurance risks - a move that could have an impact on companies' life...

130/30 Funds: Private equity could ruin 130/30 party.
March 26, 2007... Byline: Thomas Escritt Pension funds are being sold 130/30 in what may be precisely the kind of market where they pose the greatest risk. Mark Romer, a senior vice president running 130/30 portfolios for Nicholas Applegate, says markets...

Finnish Regulations: Liberalised regulations open door to alternatives.
March 26, 2007... Byline: Reeta Cevik The new Finnish pension investment regulations, which came into force in January, have prompted local pension institutions to expand their equity holdings, take new alternative asset classes on board and invest more...

Fund Profile: Danica - Taking a two pronged approach to success.
March 26, 2007... Byline: Reeta Cevik Danica Pension's investment strategy is based on two key principles, according to Jens Dalskov, CIO of Denmark's largest pension insurer: efficient risk management and thorough diversification. "First of all, risk...

Pensions Snapshot: Portugal.
March 26, 2007... Byline: Thomas Escritt After shuddering to a halt in the wake of the Socialist Party's election victory in 2005, reform of Portugal's pensions system has got back on track over the last two years. Legislation is due to pass later this...

Comment: Leader - Entering the land of the asset management giants.
March 26, 2007... Byline: Chris Newlands, editor Another week, another possible asset management tie up - certainly if Barclays, parent of BGI, the 1,300bn asset management behemoth, gets its way and becomes the proud owner of ABN Amro's 193bn investment...

Comment: World View - A lethal cocktail to upset fragile balance.
March 26, 2007... Byline: Klaudius Sobczyk Up until 2006, commodities enjoyed virtually unprecedented price performance which pushed energy and various metals to record highs. However, oil and gas as well as some metals suddenly corrected dramatically...

Comment: Industry Voice - Dispelling hedge fund risk myths.
March 26, 2007... Byline: Jean-Rene Giraud Numerous voices have been heard recently on the significance of the risks that hedge funds bring to bear on their investors and, more generally, on the equilibrium of the international financial system. The...

Comment: Shareholders leaving pockets empty.
March 26, 2007... Of course, pensions are costing us money. Half of UK companies think the cost of supporting defined benefit pension schemes is preventing them from paying their employees as well as they would so dearly love to. What is worse, half feel...

Focus: German Custody - Structural change spurs innovation.
March 26, 2007... Byline: Clemens Schuerhoff Change is afoot for custody services in the German securities market. Both the structure of the market and the nature of the services on offer are changing. Structural change is taking place through the...