epn: European Pensions & Investment News articles from May 2007

epn: European Pensions & Investment News archives from May 2007

News: FRR to cut active equities in favour of passive approach.
May 7, 2007... Byline: Chris Newlands FRR, the 31.1bn French pensions giant, is to cut into its active equity holdings and increase its dependence on passive management - according to the fund's executive director, Antoine de Salins. The reserve...

News: Danish labour market fund to see surge in property and private equity investment.
May 7, 2007... Byline: Caroline Liinanki Industriens Pension, the 6bn Danish labour market pension fund, is to increase its exposure to property from 0.2 to 5 per cent over the next five years. The fund, which recently invested in a Central and East...

News: PPM plans to slash fund choices by more than half.
May 7, 2007... PPM, the Swedish premium pension authority, wants to drastically cut the number of funds it offers investors. The aim is to reduce the fund choice from almost 800 to between 150 and 300. The suggestions - which include an annual fee of 11,000...

News: Radical roundtable reform for Hungary's pensions.(Discussion)
May 7, 2007... Byline: Thomas Escritt Hungary has launched a series of expert roundtables to come up with a long- term consensus on key areas of social and economic policy. The initiative is intended to bring an end to a long-established tradition of...

News: Pictet carries on green theme with new fund.
May 7, 2007... Byline: Thomas Escritt Environmental change continues to drive Pictet Asset Management's determined pursuit of 'megatrends' with the launch of the Pictet Clean Energy fund, which follows in the wake of the asset manager's long-established...

News: Credit Suisse seeks Dutch and German expertise.
May 7, 2007... Byline: Chris Newlands The asset management arm of Credit Suisse is looking to hire two pensions experts in Germany and the Netherlands. The house, which lost its entire seven-member property team to Aberdeen Property Investors in...

News: Danish vets' fund looks to tame hedge fund beast.
May 7, 2007... Byline: Caroline Liinanki The Danish architects' pension fund and the agronomists and veterinarians' pension fund are considering investing in hedge funds and commodities for the first time. The funds are separate but have joint...

News in Brief: ABP slams ABN Amro over secretive LaSalle sale.
May 7, 2007... ABP, the Dutch civil servant and teacher pension fund, has criticised ABN Amro over the $21bn sale of its subsidiary, LaSalle Bank, to Bank of America after concerns that it was not informed of the deal despite being a major shareholder in the...

News is Brief: CalSTRS takes on MSCI Barra for manager assesment.
May 7, 2007... The $160bn (117.1bn) California State Teachers' Retirement System (CalSTRS) has appointed MSCI Barra, a provider of benchmark indices and risk management analytics products, to help select and monitor external equity managers. The CalSTRS...

News: BGI is 'rapidly expanding' strategic solutions group.
May 7, 2007... Byline: Kalpana Fitzpatrick Barclays Global Investors (BGI) is expanding its strategic solution group following increased demand from pension funds. Hugh Cutler, managing director and co-head of the strategic solution group, said the...

News: Franck to pick managers at Danske.
May 7, 2007... Henrik Franck, PFA's new chief investment officer, has made his first changes at the 26.9bn fund and has hired Danske Capital's Torben Hansen to take on responsibility for manager research. Mr Hansen was previously a senior portfolio manager....

People on the Move: Academic Post gets his strategy head on at Robeco.
May 7, 2007... Robeco has appointed Thierry Post as head of quantitative strategies, with the task of creating high-quality investment support strategies and portfolio management methodologies. The quantitative strategies department develops approaches for...

People on the Move: GO board pushes 40 after pair of appointments.
May 7, 2007... Governance for Owners (GO) has broadened out its advisory board with the appointment of Christy Wood and Bruno Allmendinger. Together, the shareholder engagement fund partnership's executive and advisory boards number 38 members, covering 14...

People on the Move: Vaquier steps up to manage Axa's real estate arm.
May 7, 2007... Pierre Vaquier has been promoted to chief executive of Axa REIM, the real estate fund management specialist subsidiary of Axa Investment Managers. Mr Vaquier, who was previously deputy managing director and chief executive of Axa REIM France,...

People on the Move: Banner new poster boy at Fortis multi-management.
May 7, 2007... Fortis Investments has recruited Peter Banner to serve as chief investment officer for multi-management. Mr Banner joined on 1 May from Ikano Group, where he had spent 12 years, most recently as chief investment officer for Ikano Fund...

People on the Move: Slick move as oil expert Ahuja switches to Credit Suisse.
May 7, 2007... Credit Suisse has poached Vipin Ahuja from HSBC to serve as a global equities portfolio manager. Mr Ahuja's background is as an oil and gas analyst. He has experience of markets in Asia, the US and Europe. A chemical engineer by background, he...

People on the Move: Langridge joins Asian specialist Lloyd George.
May 7, 2007... The specialist Asian and emerging markets investment manager Lloyd George Management has enticed Kathryn Langridge over from Invesco Perpetual. Formerly a global smaller companies portfolio manager, Ms Langridge will replace Jacob Rees-Mogg and...

News: ADSS signs up to help EFRP push into eastern Europe.
May 7, 2007... Byline: Thomas Escritt The European Federation for Retirement Provision (EFRP) is making further inroads into central and eastern Europe as the Slovak federation ADSS joins as an observer. The decision to admit ADSS, the Slovak...

News: Danish funds get taste for alternatives.
May 7, 2007... Byline: Caroline Liinanki Danish life and pension funds are looking to move away from their relatively large bond holdings in favour of alternatives, according to consultancy Kirstein Finans. "Danish pension funds have become more...

News: Netherlands defying Europe's trend towards defined contribution.
May 7, 2007... The trend away from defined benefit (DB) schemes is gathering pace across Europe, with only The Netherlands proving a partial exception to the rule, according to Towers Perrin. Retirement benefit schemes on offer to new employees are...

News: UNEP FI report shows top ESG performers.
May 7, 2007... The United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) has produced its first report looking into the responsible investment practices of some of the world's largest pension funds. The report found that ethical investing was...

News: Credit Suisse unveils two UK LDI solutions.
May 7, 2007... Credit Suisse is targeting UK pension schemes looking for liability-driven investment (LDI) solutions with the launch of two LDI funds. Credit Suisse Diversified Growth (UK) LDI and Credit Suisse Target Return (UK) LDI will incorporate...

News: Spanish property wobble sees Aberdeen pull out.
May 7, 2007... Byline: Spencer Anderson Aberdeen Property Investors has dropped Spain from its recently launched Southern European fund, due to a lack of stability in the market, but the company has not ruled out future investments in the country. ...

News: Smaller funds targeted with BlackRock LDI product.
May 7, 2007... BlackRock has launched a liability-driven investment (LDI) pooled solution for UK pension funds. The LDI product will offer the possibility of reducing liability risk while targeting improved funding rates. Liability Plus is aimed at...

News: JLL merges with Dutch and Finnish companies.
May 7, 2007... Byline: Caroline Liinanki Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) has expanded into the Netherlands and Finland and merged with two local companies. The firm is to combine with Troostwijk Makelaars, an independent property advisor. The merger will...

Defined Contribution: Ireland - Still green on Emerald Isle.
May 7, 2007... Byline: Ray Mckenna and James Kavanagh Retirement income in Ireland is a combination of state and occupational pension provision. The state pension, payable from age 65, aims to provide the equivalent of 33 per cent of the average...

Asian Property: Re-building from the rubble.
May 7, 2007... Byline: John Su As pension funds seek new ways to diversify and increasingly look beyond their domestic borders for investment opportunities, a trend for global exposure has emerged. One leading property consultant predicted early last...

Fund Profile: PKA - A woman's touch prompts need for diversification.
May 7, 2007... The investment strategy of Pensionskassernes Administration (PKA), the administration company for eight occupational pension funds in Denmark, is based on three key principles, according to Michael Nellemann Pedersen, CIO of the fund. ...

Pensions Snapshot: Ireland.
May 7, 2007... Byline: Thomas Escritt Ireland's Pensions Board is seeking new powers to regulate insurance companies under contract to administer smaller pension schemes and new sanctions for breaches of pensions legislation. The proposals are...

Comment: Leader - Will investing in climate change cost the earth?
May 7, 2007... Byline: Chris Newlands, editor So should pension fund managers be taking climate change into consideration when making their investment decisions? According to 52 per cent of the audience at the recent European Pensions and Savings Summit...

Comment: World View - Markets shooting down the doomsayers.
May 7, 2007... Byline: Klaudius Sobczyk It appears that the three riders of the apocalypse are on the horizon, as many doomsayers make the case for an upcoming recession caused by deteriorating economic activity followed by collapsing corporate earnings,...

Comment: Industry Voice - Standing up for rights after LBO.
May 7, 2007... Byline: Nigel Cresswell It seems that almost every day the newspapers feature details of financial sponsors (private equity houses) bidding to take another listed company private. In such a leveraged buy-out (LBO), shareholders usually...

Comment: A safe bet on reaching a century.
May 7, 2007... Pity the poor actuaries. You think you have got a fix on life expectancy and then the wretches just go on living. How can anybody be expected to do a job under these circumstances? At least the actuaries' pension fund clients have it...

Future Asset Classes: Can water really start to bring in cashflows?
May 7, 2007... Byline: Thomas Escritt When Alain Bourrier, an emerging Europe fund manager at Black Rock, was pitching his fund recently, he paused to extol Russia's richness in natural resources. Alongside the familiar recital of the country's wealth in...

People on the Move: Josseaume takes on UK consulting role at Hewitt.
May 7, 2007... Yves Josseaume has joined Hewitt Associates' UK investment consulting practice. Mr Josseaume's career has included stints at HSBC, where he was director of the investment banking arm's pension solutions group, and at Aviva, where he helped...

News: Univest takes the plunge into fixed income with bond product.
May 21, 2007... Byline: Thomas Escritt Univest, the 4bn fund pool for Unilever's individual country pension funds, is to add fixed-income to its product portfolio. Angela Docherty, senior corporate investment consultant at Unilever Pensions, a pioneer...

News: BNL cuts bond allocation for emerging market equities.
May 21, 2007... Byline: Chris Newlands The 1bn pension fund for the workers of BNL, Italy's sixth largest bank, is to invest in emerging market equities with 4 per cent of its total assets. The push, which will come at the expense of the fund's bond...

News: Swiss funds say the law restricts asset allocation.
May 21, 2007... Byline: Thomas Escritt Swiss pension funds are eager to diversify abroad and take advantage of alternative investment opportunities, but remain shackled by the country's occupational pensions law. This is the key finding of this year's...

News: Green approach will help fund performance.
May 21, 2007... Byline: Thomas Escritt Funds can give their performance a substantial boost by tilting their portfolios towards more sustainable investments, a report by Watson Wyatt Investment Consulting concludes. Paul Trickett, European head of...

News: Russia urged to kick-start private pensions sector.
May 21, 2007... Byline: Thomas Escritt A group of foreign-owned private pension insurers has called on the Russian government to do more to foster the development of a private pensions sector in Russia. A position paper from the Association of...

News in Brief: Lyxor launches three ETFs and backs London as trading centre.
May 21, 2007... Lyxor Asset Management, owned by Societe Generale, has entered the UK exchange traded fund (ETF) market with the launch of three ETFs, one of which is the first to track the entire FTSE all share index. The company said it believes that the new...

News in Brief: BT pension scheme celebrates 10 years of outperformance.
May 21, 2007... The BT pension scheme, the UK's largest pension fund, has announced a decade of outperformance in spite of negative equity market returns and improved longevity. In 2006, the 56.3bn fund outperformed its benchmark return by 1.4 per cent and...

News: Morley recruits ex-Pramerica man as property research head.
May 21, 2007... Fund manager Morley has appointed David Skinner as head of property research to help develop its business in continental Europe and Asia. Mr Skinner joins Morley in a newly-created role from Pramerica, the real estate investment management...

News: First State gets heads spinning with musical investments.
May 21, 2007... Byline: Caroline Liinanki First State Media Group has acquired a music copyright catalogue with the hope of attracting investors to a different kind of asset. The catalogue consists of more than 25,000 songs and includes classics like Take...

News: BNY seals ATP global custodian deal.
May 21, 2007... The 56bn ATP, Denmark's largest pension fund, has appointed The Bank of New York as its global custodian. The bank will also provide services such as trade support, derivatives administration and data management. "We were impressed with...

People on the Move: Crewe signs up to F&C's asset liability team.
May 21, 2007... F&C has appointed Robert Crewe as a derivatives fund manager to its asset liability management team. Mr Crewe will report to Richard Watts, head of asset liability management and insurance. He joins from Bearn Stearns, where he worked as...

People on the Move: Andrzejsson leads SWIP's push into Nordic region.
May 21, 2007... Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP) has appointed Andre Andrzejsson as head of the Nordic region to help develop the firm's business in Scandinavia. He joins from CDK Group, where he was the sales and marketing director. Mr...

People on the Move: Nutbrown to take up Credit Suisse fixed income role.
May 21, 2007... Credit Suisse has appointed Kieron Nutbrown as a managing director to its fixed income team. He is to oversee its FX overlay business for asset management and will report to Paul Griffiths, head of fixed income. Mr Nutbrown joins from Black...

People on the Move: Goodland switches to global outlook at Watson Wyatt.
May 21, 2007... Jane Goodland has joined the global manager research team at Watson Wyatt Investment Consulting. She joined in April and is reporting to Craig Baker, global head of manager research. Ms Goodland previously worked at HSBC Group Investment...

People on the Move: Pair boost Daiwa SB's investment team.
May 21, 2007... Daiwa SB Investments has appointed two senior members to its investment team. Atul Patel has joined to head its UK global equity team. He previously worked at F&C Investment Management, Bankers Trust and Gartmore. Alexander Hack has joined as a...

People on the Move: Gaston heads up UK sales at Pictet Funds.
May 21, 2007... Pictet Funds has appointed Paul Gaston as head of UK sales. Mr Gaston will be based in London and be responsible for developing the fund's distribution business in the UK market. He will report to Laurent Ramsey, CEO of Pictet Funds and will...

People on the Move: Pioneer poaches Josserand from Axa for alternatives post.
May 21, 2007... Pioneer Investments has poached Antoine Josserand from Axa to join the firm as head of alternative investments institutional sales. The position is newly created and Mr Josserand will report to Paul Price, global head of institutional business....

People on the Move: De Boer takes sales director role at First State.
May 21, 2007... First State has appointed Heico de Boer as senior institutional sales director for Europe. He will report to Michael Stapleton, head of business development. Mr De Boer joins from Northern Trust, where he was responsible for European...

News: OECD countries set out guidelines for pension funds.
May 21, 2007... Byline: Thomas Escritt The member countries of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) have put together a list of guidelines for securing occupational pension schemes. In the guidelines, the OECD recommends...

News: European Commission takes action against domestic tax charge bias.
May 21, 2007... Byline: Caroline Liinanki The European Commission has started infringement procedures against nine member states for charging higher taxes on dividend and interest payments to foreign pension funds than domestic funds. If the European...

News Analysis: Regulatory shake-ups could cost.
May 21, 2007... Byline: Thomas Escritt Regulators should be cautious when making changes to scheme regulatory environments, Allianz Global Investors is warning in a report, since poorly thought through measures can have unexpected and costly consequences....

Pensions Pooling: Belgium bids for big fish status with pooling.
May 21, 2007... Byline: Thomas Escritt Belgium's prime minister Guy Verhofstadt has been travelling Europe with much fanfare recently, promoting the country's new cross- border pensions vehicle. The Organisation for Financing Pensions will, he hopes,...

Pensions Snapshot: Russia.
May 21, 2007... Byline: Thomas Escritt Restrictive fee structures are hampering the growth of the private second-pillar pension system in Russia, a group of the country's private pension insurers claims. Alexander Lorenz, chairman of the Raiffeisen...

Comment: Leader - The pooling roadshow may be wasting its energy.
May 21, 2007... Byline: Chris Newlands, editor If you have ever had a burning desire to be in the same room as a European head of state then now is an ideal time to be touring the conference circuit - but only if you also have a keen interest in where a...

Comment: World View - Looking for green solutions to energy crisis.
May 21, 2007... Byline: Klaudius Sobczyk It is time again for energy prices to move to the forefront of economic and political thinking, as terrorist activity increases and instability in Nigeria adds to constant worries. The vulnerability of oil...

Comment: Industry Voice - Combining size with human touch.
May 21, 2007... Byline: Alain Grisay In recent years, specialist boutique asset managers have attracted the attention of both the consultant community and retail independent financial advisers. They have combined a narrow focus on areas of significant...

Comment: Musical investment off key for pensions.
May 21, 2007... There is a clear hierarchy of glamour to asset classes. At the bottom come gilts, developed country debt and safe-as-houses corporate bonds. Equities are a small step up, though liquid securities trading on major exchanges are still pretty dull...

Focus: Global Tactical Asset Allocation - New generation GTAA shows cunning tactics.
May 21, 2007... Does the world need another source of uncorrelated alpha? Evidently so, if the roll-out of new generation global tactical asset allocation (GTAA) funds is anything to go by. All the major investment banks and most of the larger quant managers...

Defined Contribution: Eastern Europe - Building a third-pillar system in Eastern Europe.
May 21, 2007... Byline: Michael Brough Like many areas of life in Eastern Europe over recent years, there has been significant change in the pensions landscape which has included: - Realisation of the high future cost of state pension liabilities,...

Fund Profile: Industriens Pension - Industry fund enjoys its new found freedom.
May 21, 2007... Byline: Caroline Liinanki After years of stable growth and one of the best returns from any Danish pension fund in 2006, the 6bn Industriens Pension is now ready for change. A return of 7.7 per cent, increasing contributions and decreasing...