epn: European Pensions & Investment News articles from November 2004

epn: European Pensions & Investment News archives from November 2004

News: F&C's largest Dutch client pulled E1bn before merger.
November 8, 2004... F&C Management lost E1bn in assets from its largest pension fund client in the Netherlands just weeks before the conclusion of its merger with the British fund house Isis. PME, the E14bn Schiphol-based metalworkers' fund, redistributed the...

News: Osterberg dismisses early reform to Swedish pensions.
November 8, 2004... Sweden's new minister with responsibility for the experimental PPM pension system, Sven-Erik Osterberg, has ruled out any early reforms before the publication of a report next year. The new finance minister was appointed just a year before...

News: Reflecting the union and respecting diversity.
November 8, 2004... epn: What are your priorities as chairman of the European Federation for Retirement provision? Jaap Maassen: To ensure that EFRP membership reflects the new shape of the European Union with 25 member states and some countries in the...

News: ABA calls for rule change.
November 8, 2004... The German occupational pensions association, the ABA, is lobbying the German finance and social security ministries to revise the regulations for Germany's Pensionsfonds vehicle to increase its competitiveness. The Pensionsfonds,...

News: Belgian tax in the dock.
November 8, 2004... The European Commission (EC) is taking Belgium to the European Court of Justice because of its discriminatory pension taxation rules. Under the current system Belgian law favours Belgian pension funds, which the EC called an obstacle to freedom...

News: News in brief.
November 8, 2004... OPPENHEIM TO MERGE UNITS - Oppenheim Asset Management, the Cologne-based asset manager, is to merge its Oppenheim Capital Management subsidiary with its German KAG operation (OKAG) and revamp its board structure. It is also expanding its...

News: Allianz Dresdner rebrands as AGI.
November 8, 2004... Allianz Group is forecasting that its asset management business will post a profit in 2005 and has rebranded its operation under the name Allianz Global Investors (AGI). Joachim Faber, CEO of Allianz Global Investors, announced this in London...

News: People on the Move.
November 8, 2004... Fidelity hires Gloger Fidelity Investments has appointed Achim Gloger as business development director in its pan-European fixed income team. Gloger joins from Barclays Capital's European fixed income distribution team where he covered...

News: German boutiques go for absolute returns.
November 8, 2004... Lupus alpha Asset Management and TrendConcept are planning to roll out new absolute return products. Frankfurt-based Lupus alpha, specialising in options-based investment strategies and European small- and mid-caps, is preparing to launch...

News: Vanguard opens Amsterdam office.
November 8, 2004... The Vanguard Group, the second largest asset manager in the US, is opening a representative office in Amsterdam to service its Dutch institutional investment clients. The office was expected to be in service by 1 November, although the official...

News: Accession state indices launched by Stoxx.
November 8, 2004... Stoxx, the European index provider, has launched two indices to measure the performance of the 10 accession states that joined the EU in May: the Dow Jones Stoxx EU Enlarged Total Market Index (TMI) and the Dow Jones Stoxx EU Enlarged 15, a...

News: Convertible arbitrage blues.
November 8, 2004... In its latest quarterly look at the hedge fund market, Tara Capital, the Geneva-based advisory firm, has found that investors are continuing to shun convertible arbitrage funds in favour of CTA and managed future funds. "One of the most...

News Analysis: CoreRatings bought out by DNV.
November 8, 2004... CoreRatings, the European corporate responsibility rating agency, is under new management. The London-based intangible value and corporate risk provider, which was previously affiliated to Fitch Ratings, has been bought- out by independent...

Comment: Leader - CTAs and the real issue for Germany.
November 8, 2004... German consultants been muttering darkly about foreign rating agencies' lack of understanding about the country's supposedly unfunded pension liabilities for some time now, particularly since the S&P's warning on Thyssen Krupp's pension...

Comment: World View - Oil market's changing focus.
November 8, 2004... Investors remain focused on developments in the US and its economic data is frequently cited as the main influence on world bond and equity markets. However, other emerging economic forces are increasingly overtaking them in importance. The...

Comment: Industry Voice - The limits to choice.
November 8, 2004... Many of us are familiar with that gnawing feeling of regret experienced when we buy a new pair of shoes only to realise within hours that they are not right. Fortunately, neither the expense nor frequency of my shoe purchases is going to...

Comment: Mephisto.
November 8, 2004... "What news on the Rialto?" asks Shylock in the Merchant of Venice. Transport him to Stockholm, Amsterdam or Frankfurt in 2004, and he may well ask: "What news from the Regus office space water cooler?" Just as purchasers of starter homes...

German Pension Liabilities: What firms need to know about pension liabilities.
November 8, 2004... The past few decades have seen a strengthening focus on equity investments by corporate pension funds, driven by the - misplaced - belief that more aggressive asset allocation strategies help to reduce pension costs in an ageing environment....

Special Focus: Investing in Asia - Taming the dragon.
November 8, 2004... Analysing investment opportunities in China has begun to be a bit like reading tea leaves. The economy is so big, so diverse and growing so dynamically - not to mention tightly linked to so much of the global market - that analysts are often at...

Special Focus: Investing in Asia - Analysts mull over effect of Bank of China rate rise.
November 8, 2004... While managers and analysts appear at odds on how the People's Bank of China's first interest rate hike in nine years will affect investment opportunities within the region, they do seem more clear on how the 27 basis point rise will influence...

Special Focus: Investing in Asia - On the road to recovery.
November 8, 2004... It has been such a long time since there was any sustained good news to report from the Land of the Rising Sun that investors could be forgiven for taking the recent slowing of economic growth as the sign of a return to the sub-par norm. That,...

World Bank Retirement Fund: Pleasing a very demanding client.
November 8, 2004... The World Bank is one of the most advanced and demanding investors worldwide, issuing the first interest rate swap in 1981 with IBM as counterparty. This transaction, which had a value of $290m and a duration of seven years, has generally been...

Pensions Snapshot: Hungary.
November 8, 2004... Hungary was one of the first eastern European countries to abandon a hugely expensive pension system inherited from the communist era. What was built in its place still stands - a three pillar exemplar of the 'World Bank' system. This comprises...

News: Belgian govt nationalises airport's pension assets.
November 22, 2004... Twelve months after the liquidation of Belgacom's E3.6bn first pillar pension fund, the Belgian government is to take over the assets of Brussels International Airport Company's (BIAC) E135m pension scheme. ABN Amro Asset Management and KBC...

News: API to close investment in property fund of funds.
November 22, 2004... Aberdeen Property Investors (API) in Stockholm is to close investment for continental Europe's first real estate funds of funds and has signed agreements with lead investors, including Nordea Life and Pensions' operations in all four Nordic...

News: FRR: no sustainable private equity.
November 22, 2004... The French pensions reserve fund last week indicated a commitment of up to E1bn into private equity, but dropped any moves to invest through a socially responsible investment filter. "We are going to invest in private equity in the months...

News: S&P sees small-caps falling back.
November 22, 2004... Outperformance from the small-cap sector may be drawing to a close, Standard & Poor's Equity Research claimed last week. Yet despite their gloomy prognosis, S&P noted small-cap drivers, such as negative real interest rates and rising...

News: Sustainability for ABN.
November 22, 2004... ABN Amro Asset Management is to apply sustainability principles across all its mainstream portfolios from next year, epn has learned. Edward Moolenburgh, the firm's head of corporate governance and sustainable development, said there were...

News: Norway prints ethical guide.
November 22, 2004... Norway's Finance Ministry is finally set to publish ethical guidelines for the E136bn Petroleum Fund following approval from the country's parliament earlier this year. Eli Lund, an adviser to the fund and a Ministry of Finance official,...

News: News in brief.
November 22, 2004... New Stoxx indices European index provider Stoxx has launched new indices to track the performances of the 10 new member states of the European Union. The Dow Jones Stoxx EU Enlarged Total Market is a broad benchmark index covering...

News: SRI disappoints Swiss.
November 22, 2004... Research carried out by UBS Global Asset Management has found that of 43 Swiss pension schemes surveyed that invest in socially responsible products, more than 50% are unimpressed with their performance and believe SRI does not fit in with...

News: Swiss funds back in black in Q3.
November 22, 2004... Swiss pension funds moved back into the black for the third quarter of 2004, but still underperformed their benchmark, the latest WM Performance Services survey revealed. Despite improving quarterly returns from a drop of 1.1% to a rise of...

News: People on the move.
November 22, 2004... VB CHAIRMEN CHANGE Benne van Popta and Hans van der Windt are to succeed Gerard Beuker and Ton Wennekus as chairmen of the Dutch Association of Industry-wide Pension Funds (VB) on 1 January. Van Popta is director for European affairs at...

News: Fortis expands hedge range.
November 22, 2004... Fortis Investments is planning an expansion of its range of four single hedge fund strategies. A global macro hedge fund is planned by the end of the year, while Japanese equity and European fixed income arbitrage funds are planned next year....

News: Generation launched with Blood and Gore.
November 22, 2004... Former US Vice-President Al Gore has joined forces with ex-Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM) CEO David Blood to launch an investment management group focusing on long-term investments and sustainable research. Gore will serve as chairman....

News: Fidelity plans German growth.
November 22, 2004... US giant Fidelity Investments is aiming for a huge expansion of its business in Germany's institutional market. Fidelity is focusing on large and medium-sized corporates, pension funds, insurers and banks. And it wants to position itself as...

News: Kaupthing starts UK operation.
November 22, 2004... Kaupthing, Iceland's largest bank, has established a UK-based asset management business. The company, New Bond Street Asset Management LLP (NBS) is a specialised credit fund manager, led by Zoe Shaw, who was previously managing director of...

News: Consultants eye management role.
November 22, 2004... Many investment consultancy firms are looking to move into asset management in an attempt to leverage decreasing returns from their advisory business, Tim Gardener, head of the European and Global Mercer Investment Consulting practices last...

News: Manager numbers down.
November 22, 2004... Investment Solutions, a UK insurance company, has published data that suggests asset management houses are hiring fewer portfolio managers in the UK active equity sector. Its research showed 28% fewer fund managers were recruited than those who...

Comment: Leader - Play pensions properly.
November 22, 2004... You probably wouldn't liquidate your diversified portfolio and invest it all in government bonds, at least not without good reason. But that is the approach of the Belgian federal budget ministry when it takes over the first pillar pension...

Comment: World View - Peril at home.
November 22, 2004... The mother of all bubbles could be in the final stages of formation, and its effect could be more widespread than the equity market crash. The stock market bubble of the late 1990s developed simultaneously in most markets, but this current...

Comment: Industry Voice - Home advantage?
November 22, 2004... It is a well-known phenomenon that investors strategically overweight their portfolios towards domestic equities. A Citigroup Asset Management study* reveals a startling divergence between the average fund and benchmark weighting. For example,...

Comment: Mephisto.
November 22, 2004... Mephisto is keen on the planet. Reined in by the heavens, ethical considerations are key to retaining something to dominate. Never a day passes without our horned friend tugging another dolphin free from the tuna nets or untweaking the ring...

Special Focus: Portfolio Focus - How sound are hedge funds?
November 22, 2004... There used to be wider price discrepancies in financial markets, which meant hedge funds were better able to utilise these inefficiencies and in turn to exploit the higher volatility. But the volatility of many markets has fallen,...

Special Focus: Portfolio Focus - Pension funds drag their feet over hedge fund investments.
November 22, 2004... Pension funds are biding their time when it comes to hedge funds and none more than the Danish, who have traditionally dragged their feet on the topic. Indeed, Soren Schjodt-Hansen, chief investment officer at FSP, the E2.2bn fund for...

Special Focus: Portfolio Focus - Finding your balance.
November 22, 2004... The traditional Markowitz portfolio model makes an important, under- appreciated assumption - the investor does not alter his portfolio during the projected time horizon. For instance, an investor interested in a one-year horizon will set the...

FSP Pension Fund - A pessimistic view on returns.
November 22, 2004... Soren Schjodt-Hansen, chief investment officer at the Danish E2.2bn sector pension fund for financial workers, FSP, is keeping a close eye on the financial markets. Over the past 12 months he has already increased the fund's strategic...

Pensions Snapshot: Baltic States.
November 22, 2004... Entry into the European Union has given the citizens of the Baltic States a confidence in private pensions that was previously lacking. Hit by the twin banking crises of 1995 and 1998, which decimated savings, investors have until now been...