Pensions Week articles from April 2004

Pensions Week archives from April 2004

News: SYPTA looks overseas for equity investment.(b)(South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Authority)
April 12, 2004... The South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Authority (SYPTA) pension scheme is reducing its UK equities exposure in favour of overseas equities. The overseas investments are to be managed by Old Mutual, which has been reappointed as the...

News: PIMCO claims 10-year bonds offer best value.(Pacific Investment Management Co.)
April 12, 2004... Ten-year bonds offer the best value in the bond markets, PIMCO believes, while all bonds generally offer little protection from expected interest rate hikes. Although interest rates were held last week, some fund managers increasingly...

News: Opra relaxes late reporting rules.(Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority )(Brief Article)
April 12, 2004... The pension regulator has relaxed rules for personal pension providers blowing the whistle on late payment of contributions by employers. As of last Monday (April 5), the Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority (Opra) no longer expects...

News: Amicus survey shows majority in favour of employer compulsion.
April 12, 2004... The government should force employers to make contributions to their employees' pensions, according to nearly three-quarters of people surveyed by trade union Amicus MSF. Amicus polled 1,000 people to look at how the public perceives the...

News: T&G supports call for inquiry into Mayflower.(Transport and General Workers Union)(Brief Article)
April 12, 2004... The Transport and General Workers Union (T&G), the largest trade union with members affected by the current crisis gripping the Mayflower group of companies, has called on the administrators to explain what has gone wrong with the company's...

News: Year-end figures steer Royal London from stock market float.(Brief Article)
April 12, 2004... Royal London Mutual Society's strong year-end figures justify its decision not to follow Standard Life's path to a stock market flotation, according to the company. A spokesman for Royal London, whose subsidiaries include Scottish Life and...

News: Equity market keeps on the up.(pension fund results)
April 12, 2004... The equity market has continued its positive run for UK pension funds this year, with the average pooled fund seeing a 1.6% increase. HSBC Actuaries and Consultants, which produced the figures as part of its IMAGE survey, said the return -...

News: Annual DC statements will reduce the sting.(money purchase pension statements)(Brief Article)
April 12, 2004... Companies should start to prepare their money purchase pension statements for staff to avoid employees panicking when they eventually receive them, consultants say. The statutory money purchase illustration is a regulatory requirement for...

News: Increased longevity may see insurance reserves rise.(Brief Article)
April 12, 2004... Life companies are expected to have to increase the level of reserves they hold because of the investment risks associated with improved life expectancy, according to analysts at Morgan Stanley. New mortality tables covering 1999 to 2002...

News: Finance Bill spells out simplification proposals.(Brief Article)
April 12, 2004... The Treasury published the Finance Bill last Thursday, which contains the draft legislation for the pensions tax simplification proposals. Consultant Tim Keogh, of Mercer Human Resource Consulting, welcomed the Bill, but said it was...

News: HACL puts the wheels in motion at Kawasaki.(HSBC Actuaries and Consultants Limited, Kawasaki Precision Machinery)(Brief Article)
April 12, 2004... Kawasaki Precision Machinery has replaced the consultancy and administration services provider for its defined benefit scheme with HSBC Actuaries and Consultants Limited (HACL). HACL took over the administration responsibilities from...

News: Glasgow Uni retains Mercers as actuary.(Professor Sir Graeme Davies is chairman of the board of trustees of the GBP20bn Universities Superannuation Scheme)(Brief Article)
April 12, 2004... The University of Glasgow pension scheme has reappointed Mercer Human Resource Consulting as its scheme actuary. Sandy Adamson, the pensions manager, confirmed that following a tendering process the trustees decided to retain Mercer's...

News: CSAM launches target return fund.
April 12, 2004... Credit Suisse Asset Management (CSAM) is about to launch a target return fund, which will invest in a wide range of fixed income securities with the aim of matching the sterling six month Libor rate plus 2.5%. The fund is largely aimed at...

News: Room with a view to a happy retirement.(Notting Hill hotel, GuestInvest)(Brief Article)
April 12, 2004... A Notting Hill hotel has become the first hotel to sell rooms to pension savers. Guesthouse West is selling the rooms for GBP235,000 each on a 99-year lease and marketing the rooms at pension savers looking for an alternative to a pension...

News: I see its point about pensions, but is it art?(Pendragon Professional Information)(Brief Article)
April 12, 2004... Industry professionals are being asked to show off their creative side by entering the Art of Pensions 2004. Pendragon Professional Information is calling for views of the current pensions world to be illustrated on the back of a blank...

News: UK funds could invest 90% of equities abroad.
April 12, 2004... The top 50 UK pension funds' could have 90% of their equity portfolios invested in foreign stock markets in as little as five years time, believes Eric Lambert, head of performance consultancy at The WM Company. Lambert predicts the...

News: Benchmark - In defence of with-profits.(pension fund trends)
April 12, 2004... With-profits has become much maligned, with shortfalls on maturing endowment mortgages following on from Equitable Life, and of course most personal pensions were on a with-profits basis. It seems possible that the concept will disappear...

News: Std Life: we have to pay directors the market rate.(Standard Life annual meeting)
April 12, 2004... Standard Life defended itself against policyholders last week over payments to its directors by declaring: "We are not a charity." At the mutual insurer's annual general meeting (AGM) last week, investors squared up to the company's...

News: RM invests oe51m in Henderson fund.(Royal Mail pension fund)(Brief Article)
April 12, 2004... The Royal Mail pension scheme has become one of the investors in the UK Shop Fund launched by Henderson Global Investors, which invests in city centre shops with asset management opportunities. The fund has an initial portfolio of 13...

News: Age Concern calls for coffers to be unlocked.(Brief Article)
April 12, 2004... The Age Concern charity launched a campaign last week to encourage older people to accept over GBP2bn in unclaimed benefits. Age Concern estimates that GBP2.5bn is sitting unclaimed in government coffers, while millions of people "struggle...

News: Laverick in late attack on Vax.(vax ltd.,)(cases)
April 12, 2004... David Laverick, the pensions ombudsman, has awarded a former member a higher pension from a wound-up scheme, based on correspondence that was eight years old. The claimant worked part-time at Vax Limited between February 1987 and January...

Ombudsman Watch.
April 12, 2004... NB - GMB Recently there have been some interesting gems. The Rt Hon Dr Jack Cunningham MP is, so far as I am aware, the first sitting member of Parliament to bring a complaint before the ombudsman about the wrongful refusal of a trades...

News: Events - Confidence conference.(Brief Article)
April 12, 2004... PW columnist and head of pensions strategy at Scottish Life, Steve Bee, will clash with Frank Field MP in a debate about confidence in the pensions industry. The South Bank Senate debate will consider the motion that confidence has been...

News: Events - Employer issues.(Brief Article)
April 12, 2004... Barnett Waddingham, the firm of actuaries, will host seminars examining issues for employers arising from occupational pension schemes in April. The dates and locations are: Amersham and Cheltenham (20); London and Leeds (21); Liverpool (22)...

News: Events - Trustee training course.(Brief Article)
April 12, 2004... Towers Perrin will run trustee training courses in central London on the following dates this year: Wednesday 23 June, Tuesday 5 October, and a refresher course on Tuesday 27 April. The course covers all the topics that are included in the...

News: Events - Leadership forum.(Global Financial Leadership Forum )(Brief Article)
April 12, 2004... The Global Financial Leadership Forum on the 19th April (8:30am -10am) will focus on pension manufacturing and distribution. It is aimed at senior executives responsible for setting strategy around which markets their organisations operate...

News: Morgan Stanley boosts Schroders.
April 12, 2004... Morgan Stanley has recommended that investors take an overweight position in investment manager Schroders, citing its strong position in third-party distribution. Hedge fund-of-funds giant, Man Group, also came in for commendation by...

News: Risk tracking device launched.(assessment of pension fund risk exposures)(Brief Article)
April 12, 2004... Thomas Murray, a specialist custody risk rating firm, has launched a service that tracks the post trade risk exposures of pension funds and other asset owners across 89 markets. The ratings give an opinion of the post trade risk exposures...

News: UK firms more upbeat than market.(Brief Article)
April 12, 2004... Heads of British companies are becoming more optimistic than the stock market about their growth prospects, according to Hugh Sergeant, head of UK equities at SG Asset Management. The equity market has returned to fretting about the big...

News: Schroders goes against the tide in private equity.(Brief Article)
April 12, 2004... Schroders has raised E285m for its Private Equity Fund-of-Funds II, which had its final closing last week on 5 April. According to Lester Gray, chief operations officer at Schroders, the assets - which are sourced from "a diverse group of...

News: Talbut: closet index trackers can't cope in the new market.(Brief Article)
April 12, 2004... Closet index trackers will lose out in the changed stock market environment this year, according to Isis Asset Management's chief investment officer, Robert Talbut. Talbut said a lot of the "easy gains" had already been made over the past...

News: Manager confidence swells in Q1.
April 12, 2004... Business confidence among fund managers and other financial service companies shot up in the first quarter of 2004 by a greater rate than in the last five years. However, concerns have risen sharply about the impact of statutory...

News: The director is dead, long live the director.(Pension Investment Research Consultants)(Brief Article)
April 12, 2004... Certain directors of listed companies are finding it hard to accept that they cannot behave like absolute monarchs, said the Pension Investment Research Consultants (Pirc), a corporate governance agency. "Some directors of listed companies...

News: Europe sees ethical investment surge to 2336bn.(Brief Article)
April 12, 2004... 'Ethical' investment around Europe in the retail and institutional world is now worth E336bn (GBP222.6bn), according to the Ethical Investment Research Service (EIRIS). Of this, E34bn is in core funds which identify the best performers on...

News Analysis: The signs were there.(investments with Equitable Life)
April 12, 2004... There have been calls for compensation to those that have invested with Equitable Life. I will nail my colours to the mast. Apart from two small endowment policies and a term assurance bought in the 1980s, I had nothing with them. Why? Firstly,...

Governance Watch: Lord Browne sees the colour of BP's money.(Brief Article)
April 12, 2004... Lord John Browne of Madingley at BP (AGM 15 April) is set to receive a remuneration salary of GBP1,316,000 and a bonus of GBP1,882,000, which is almost three times the average for a FTSE 100 chief executive officer (CEO) and five times the...

Spotlight: Getting on top of property investment.
April 12, 2004... The government's publication of the consultation document, Promoting more flexible investment in property, marks a major step towards the accessible, stable, and tax-efficient vehicle for property investment which the pensions industry has been...

Opinion: Leader - It's not just cricket.
April 12, 2004... The drubbing currently being given to the West Indian cricket team by England is a pointed reminder of how completely things can change over time. For many years the West Indies were the strongest side in world cricket, with an intimidating...

Opinion: Personal View - Ignoring the obvious - why people refuse to save enough for retirement.(Pensions Policy Institute)(Editorial)
April 12, 2004... Why is it so difficult to save for retirement? Many people are unsure of how much they need to save, or are simply not interested in finding out. There is probably also a fear of finding out the real cost, and what that means in terms of...

Opinion: Inside View - Predicting investment behaviour through the lifecycle.
April 12, 2004... Every day investors are bombarded by a barrage of economic, political and company news. Filtering this data is extremely time-consuming - assimilating it correctly is almost impossible. Human instinct takes over and investors start taking short...

People on the move: Beagles out as Frikkee moves into Newton post.(Tineke Frikkee and Clive Beagles)(Brief Article)
April 12, 2004... Tineke Frikkee has replaced Clive Beagles as manager of the Newton High Income Fund. Frikkee, previously the alternate manager, is taking Beagles' role following his resignation to take up a position with JO Hambro. She joined Newton...

People on the move: Sullivan appointed as new international consultant at Mercers.(Mark Sullivan, Alastair Hunter)(Brief Article)
April 12, 2004... Mark Sullivan has been appointed head of international consulting at Mercer Human Resource Consulting. He takes over from Alastair Hunter who is the firm's new UK retirement practice leader (PW 22.03.04). Sullivan is currently a...

People on the move: Farrell takes on oe600m Church of England fund.(Shaun Farrell to replace Roger Radford)(Brief Article)
April 12, 2004... The Church of England Pensions Board's next secretary - its chief executive position - is to be Shaun Farrell, who will take up his position on 1 October this year. He is currently financial secretary and director of central services for...

People on the move: Dowds joins NTGI as equity head.(Stephen Dowds)(Brief Article)
April 12, 2004... Stephen Dowds has been named as Northern Trust Global Investments' (NTGI) head of international equities, to be based in London. Dowds is to be responsible for the firm's non-US active equity business that currently has over GBP547m in...

People on the move: Dasher makes a run for SEI investment head role.(Karl Dasher, Greg Stahl, Ed Loughlin)(Brief Article)
April 12, 2004... SEI Investments has beefed up its investment leadership team with two new appointments. Karl Dasher is the company's new chief investment officer, replacing Ed Loughlin who will remain as president of SEI Asset Management. Greg Stahl has...

News Just In... : Global equity resurgence may have peaked.
April 12, 2004... The rebound in global equities is waning, according to latest figures. Global equities ended down for March, ending a record 11 straight months of gains. The S&P/Citigroup Broad Market Index (BMI) Global Composite showed a dip of...

Barlow and Killick add spark to NAPF council.(National Association of Pension Funds add Richard Barlow and Jan Killick to investment council)(Brief Article)
April 12, 2004... Richard Barlow, chief executive of the Electricity Supply Pension Scheme, and Jan Killick, head of pensions and benefits at the BBC, have been appointed to the investment council of the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF). They...

News: HSBC to launch Islamic pension.
April 19, 2004... HSBC is to launch an Islamic pension fund that falls in line with Shariah law and will be aimed at the UK's Muslim population, which numbers some 2m. The scheme is being made available through trustees to members of defined benefit and...

News: John Lewis review could see a shift away from equities.(John Lewis Partnership)(Brief Article)
April 19, 2004... The John Lewis Partnership is to announce the results of a review of its pension arrangements next month that could see its investments shift away from UK equities. A spokesman for the company's pension scheme confirmed that the trustees...

News: National Counties prepares for strategy shake-up.(Brief Article)
April 19, 2004... The National Counties Building Society pension scheme is to review its investment strategy. Tony Gration, a trustee and scheme administrator at the firm, confirmed that Aegon Asset Management currently manages the assets held by the...

News: PW panel urges TPAs to adopt a proactive service culture.(Third-party Administration )
April 19, 2004... Third-party administration (TPA) providers to pension schemes need to adopt a proactive, service-oriented culture, according to participants at a Pensions Week administration panel. Paymaster sales director Nick Wheeler commented: "I think...

News: MLIM's third quarter of global growth boosts financial sector.(Merrill Lynch Investment Managers)(Brief Article)
April 19, 2004... Merrill Lynch Investment Managers (MLIM) announced its third consecutive quarter of global growth in revenues and earnings last week, flooding the financial sector with a wave of optimism. Although it was unable to break figures down by...

News: State Street revenue from fees up 36%.(Brief Article)
April 19, 2004... Investment management fees generated by State Street Global Advisors were $147m (GBP80.81m) - up 36% compared with $108m (GBP58.37m) a year ago. Management fees reflected an increase in average month-end equity valuations and continued new...

News: JLT steps in over insurance caps.(Jardine Lloyd Thompson)
April 19, 2004... Pension schemes are increasingly finding that insurers who underwrite death in service benefits are refusing to guarantee support for the relatives of scheme members killed in terrorist activity, earthquakes, or even fires. This is because...

News: Investment Solutions powers to HiTek deal.(HiTek Power, Investment Solutions )(Brief Article)
April 19, 2004... HiTek Power has appointed multi-manager Investment Solutions to manage its closed defined benefit pension scheme. Denise Potter, HiTek Power's human resources manager, was not able to confirm the size of the assets concerned, describing it...

News: BGI fund outperforms benchmark by 38%.(Barclays Global Investors)(Brief Article)
April 19, 2004... The Barclays Global Investors (BGI) Ascent Asset Allocation Fund has outperformed its benchmark by 38% a year since its launch three years ago, providing it with a total return of 174% since it was set up on 31 March 2001. The GBP192m...

News: Aon Consulting cleans up on Hoover schemes.(Brief Article)
April 19, 2004... Aon Consulting has been picked as actuary and consultant to all four of HooverCandy's pension schemes, on the back of its existing work for the GBP350m Hoover (1987) Pension Scheme. As well as the Hoover scheme, Aon will now handle the...

News: Warwickshire cuts exposure to UK equities.(Brief Article)
April 19, 2004... Warwickshire County Council is to reduce its pension scheme's exposure to UK equities that currently account for half of its funds under management. The GBP660m scheme, which recently went out to tender, is looking to reduce its UK equity...

News: First phase of recovery coming to a close.
April 19, 2004... The initial phase of the upturn in world economies is coming to a close, the top economist at fund manager Schroders believes. "Whilst we remain confident on the recovery, we do believe that the initial phase of the upturn is nearing a...

News: Macquarie raises E422m for pan-European infrastructure fund.
April 19, 2004... UK fund managers looking to launch funds that invest in infrastructure stocks were given an extra incentive last week when Macquarie, an Australian investment bank, said it had raised E422m (GBP282m) from leading institutional investors in...

News: Insight picks BoNY for oe8bn mandate.(Bank of New York)(Brief Article)
April 19, 2004... Insight Investment has awarded a GBP8bn investment services mandate to the Bank of New York (BoNY) as it consolidates its fund accounting, depositary and custody arrangements. BoNY was picked after a competitive tender. It will service...

News: Gartmore nets E1bn in equities.
April 19, 2004... Gartmore Investment Management says it has taken advantage of the increasing trend of pension schemes to invest in non-UK stocks and has attracted more than E1bn in new European equity business in the last 12 months. Its most recent win...

News: Martin Currie's hedge fund tops $1bn.(Brief Article)
April 19, 2004... Martin Currie's existing clients have pushed the fund manager's hedge fund business through the $1bn (GBP550m) barrier. The Edinburgh-based specialist investment manager has built up its hedge fund business from scratch since July 2000 and...

News: ISIS to launch second property company.(Brief Article)
April 19, 2004... ISIS Asset Management is to launch a second listed property investment company. ISIS Property Trust 2 (IPT2) "will build on the successful launch" of the ISIS Property Trust Limited in October 2003, which had gross assets of GBP121m at...

News: Putnam to pay $50m fine to Massachusetts.(Brief Article)
April 19, 2004... Putnam Investments is to pay a $50m fine to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts plus $5m in restitution to shareholders over market timing in mutual funds. Putnam has reached settlement agreements with the Securities and Exchange Commission...

News: Top nine CEOs see 137% increase in pension pots.(Independent Remuneration Solutions)
April 19, 2004... Chief executives of the top nine UK companies have seen a 137% average increase in their pension pots. Accrued pension transfer values increased by an average of almost GBP1.2m from 2002 to 2003, according to Independent Remuneration...

News: Baillie Gifford climbs on NT MoM platform.(Northern Trust manager of managers)(Brief Article)
April 19, 2004... Scottish house Baillie Gifford has scooped a UK equity mandate for Northern Trust's manager-of-managers platform. The Edinburgh-based firm will run GBP110m in a growth portfolio for the Dublin- based platform, under the supervision of...

News: Benchmark - Fair points, but....
April 19, 2004... When I was much younger I used to be a big fan of Isaac Asimov. He expressed very imaginative ideas in beautifully accessible English and, to me, made science fiction a respectable genre. It isn't public pensions policy that brings science...

News: Bill freedom could erode provision.
April 19, 2004... The recent Finance Bill could erode pension provision due to the greater freedom that it gives to employers who want to provide a wider degree of flexibility in employee benefits. The Bill was published by the Treasury two weeks ago (PW...

News: FSA action fails to dent manager competiveness.(Financial Services Authority)(Brief Article)
April 19, 2004... The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has not dented the competitiveness of UK fund managers, despite the action it is taking over unbundling charges and soft commissions, says the risk management consultancy Mercer Oliver Wyman (MOW). ...

News: Ombudsman Watch.
April 19, 2004... Familiar faces It was good to see John Quarrell back in PW last week and that his standards have not slipped. True to form, he was laying into insurance companies and actuaries about the sins for which he had chastised them through the...

Governance Watch: Carnival directors are having a ball.(compensation to executive directors at Carnival Cruise lines)(Brief Article)
April 19, 2004... The remuneration paid to the executive directors at cruise company Carnival, whose AGM is being held this week, (22 April) ranged from GBP642,900 to GBP6.2m - when notional share option gains are taken into account - during the year. ...

Spotlight: The key tools for bond managers.
April 19, 2004... The continued popularity of fixed income products means that expectations for this year are high and some funds could become victims of their own success. The question on most corporate bond fund managers' minds this year is how they can...

Opinion: Leader - Pensions will stay in the spotlight.
April 19, 2004... Anyone who has been closely involved in pensions in the last few years will have seen how they have now become a high profile subject in the national media. This profile is unlikely to slip in this year or thereafter. If anything, we can...

Opinion: Personal View - Pension funds should switch out of equities but not just into bonds.
April 19, 2004... The fall in equity markets, following their peak in March 2000, has clearly highlighted the inadequacies of many pension funds' asset allocation. Some of the solutions put forward by commentators, which are receiving considerable support...

Opinion: Inside View - Beware the potential conflicts of the SFO and the PPF.(statutory funding objective )
April 19, 2004... The pensions bill introduces a statutory funding objective (SFO) and Pension Protection Fund (PPF) for defined benefit pension schemes. The details of how these will work will be set out in regulations issued once the bill receives royal assent...

Special Focus: Property Investment - Intro.(property investment funds)(Brief Article)
April 19, 2004... There are a number of key reasons for the revival of property as an investment class of interest to pension funds. Firstly, as all home-owners and prospective house buyers are aware, the performance of property can be spectacular. For...

Special Focus: Property Investment - The Reit move for property investment.(real estate investment trusts)
April 19, 2004... The announcement that the government is considering the introduction of a UK version of real estate investment trusts (Reits) has been widely welcomed by the property industry. A consultation document is now out for comment until July 16...

Special Focus: Property Investment - No longer the Cinderella asset class.
April 19, 2004... As is very well documented, 10 years ago pension and life fund investment into commercial property as was at its nadir, with international equities and corporate bonds seen as far more attractive alternatives. Indeed pension and life fund...

Special Focus: Property Investment - A fast moving vehicle.
April 19, 2004... Two of the major contributing factors to commercial property falling out of favour with investors during the latter part of the 1980s and early 1990s were its relative inaccessibility and lack of transparency. The problem with...

Special Focus: Property Investment - Company Profile - Association of Property Unit Trusts.(Association of Property Unit Trusts )(Company Profile)
April 19, 2004... About the Association of Property Unit Trusts The Association of Property Unit Trusts (APUT) is the collective voice for the UK property unit trust sector. Founded in the 1970s and formalised in 1986, the APUT aims to encourage best...

Special Focus: Property Investment - Evolution or revolution?(property investment funds)
April 19, 2004... The reference by the chancellor of the exchequer in his Budget speech this year to property investment funds (PIFs) is an important milestone on the road to what many property practitioners see as the Holy Grail that will lead to further...

Special Focus: Property Investment - Company Profile - Merrill Lynch Investment Managers.
April 19, 2004... Background Merrill Lynch Investment Managers (MLIM) is the fund management arm of Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc - one of the world's leading financial services providers. With more than 600 investment professionals strategically located around...

Special Report: Hedge Fund Strategies - Intro.(Brief Article)
April 19, 2004... With the recent GBP500m investment by the BT pension fund in hedge funds, this asset class could be said to have come of age for UK pension funds. In the last few years, hedge funds have been widely discussed by potential investors, but as...