All IPE articles in April 2009 (Online)
View all stories from this issue.
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NewsSolidarity fund loses 4.39% under PensPlan
[17:15 CEST 30-04] ITALY – The €258m solidarity fund, managed by PensPlan for the semi-autonomous Trentino Alto Adige region in northern Italy, returned -4.39% for 2008.
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NewsEC to raise insolvency issue with Irish gov't
[17:10 CEST 30-04] IRELAND/EUROPE – Trade union representatives for SR Technics workers have been told the European Commission will "shortly" be raising the issue of pension protection, when a scheme is wound up in deficit, with the Irish government.
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NewsHewitt awarded PPF longevity risk role
[17:05 CEST 30-04] UK – The Pension Protection Fund (PPF) has appointed Hewitt to provide advice on the scheme's exposure to longevity risk.
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NewsRegulators urged to leave pension funds alone
[17:00 CEST 30-04] EUROPE – Regulators came under strong criticism at a conference in Salzburg earlier this week, when Swiss consultant Felix Kottmann and Dutch fiduciary adviser Anton van Nunen told them to back away from damaging pensions.
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NewsUK and Germany yet to embrace sustainable investing
[16:45 CEST 30-04] GERMANY/UK –Two separate studies into attitudes towards responsible investing suggests UK pension funds and major German investors are looking at investments wth environmental and social governance (ESG) in mind, though further work is still needed to get all investors onboard as just a handful have fully embraced ...
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NewsBNP wins over Fortis Belgium shareholders
BELGIUM – BNP Paribas has finally won the support of Fortis shareholders and is now just awaiting regulatory approval to complete the long-running takeover of Fortis Belgium.
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NewsEconomic crisis could lengthen deficit recoveries
[16:00 CESt 30-04] UK – Calculations made by Towers Perrin suggest the current levels of corporate bond yields alongside growing defined benefit pension scheme deficits could lengthen funds’ recovery times to as much as 20 years.
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NewsDutch gov’t keeps pushing for Flex AOW
[13:00 CEST 30-04] NETHERLANDS – Dutch social affairs’ state secretary, Jetta Klijnsma, wants to carry on with the plan to allow employees to keep on working up to five years beyond the official retirement age.
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NewsHanafin criticised for 'rushing' DB changes
[17:20 CEST 29-04] IRELAND – Last-minute amendments to the Social Welfare Bill introducing measures to support members of defined benefit (DB) schemes, including a state annuity scheme, have been criticised by opposition political parties for being “rushed through” the Oireachtas.
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NewsPersonal accounts to rollout ahead of auto-enrolment
[17:15 CEST 29-04] UK – The personal accounts delivery authority (PADA) has confirmed it wants to launch the new trust-based occupational scheme before the introduction of compulsory employer contributions and auto-enrolment is introduced in 2012, in a bid to iron out any problems.
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NewsBerkshire halves equity assets under new strategy
[17:10 CEST 29-04] UK – The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead has finalised the remaining manager appointments for its diversified strategy for the Royal Berkshire Pension Fund, which includes more than halving the fund's equity allocation to 32.5%.
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NewsRobeco seeks to become a 'truly responsible investor'
[17:00 CEST 29-04] NETHERLANDS - Asset manager Robeco is planning to incorporate environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) principles into its entire €110bn portfolio, in a bid to achieve more sustainable returns as well as a better risk-return profile.
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NewsSBZ to shift staff to external admin provider
[16:50 CEST 29-04] NETHERLANDS - SBZ, the €2.2bn pension fund for care insurer employees, is thinking of contracting out the management of its administration as well as its implementation activities, for what appears to be an internal restructuring of resources.
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NewsWednesday people roundup
[16:30 CEST 29-04] GLOBAL – People roundup: ICGN, RiskMetrics, Hymans Robertson, Nordea, BNP Paribas.
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NewsGov't admits it will not leave RMPP fully funded
[17:25 CEST 29-04] UK – The UK government has confirmed it will take responsibility for around £29.5bn (€33.1bn) in pension liabilities of the Royal Mail Pension Plan (RMPP) and leave the scheme with "sufficient assets" to meet its remaining liabilities, though this will not be on a fully-funded basis.
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NewsMercer takes on competitors with ‘boutique’ research
[17:00 CEST 28-04] GLOBAL – Mercer, the pensions and investment consultant, has split out its investment manager research into individual asset class ‘boutiques’, in a bid to provide its pension consulting clients with more specialist investment manager data.
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NewsAsset managers 'could do more' on pensions
[16:30 CEST 28-04] GERMANY – At least 20% of asset managers, KAGs banks, insurances and other product providers in Germany admit they are not investing enough or not investing at all in the retirement business within their companies.
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NewsWhitbread sets out recovery plan for £388m deficit
[16:20 CEST 28-04] UK – Whitbread, the UK hospitality firm, has confirmed it is giving its pension fund £150m of its property assets as contingent assets after the latest valuation revealed a pension deficit of £388m (€435.2m) on an actuarial basis.
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NewsEtera and Veritas Q1 losses stay below 2%
[16:10 CEST 28-04] FINLAND – Etera Mutual Pension Insurance Company and Veritas have reported their pension funds suffered small losses in the first quarter of 2009 of -1.4% and -1.3% respectively.
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NewsUkraine's pension deficit could reach €1.2bn
UKRAINE – Victor Yushchenko, president of the Ukraine, has warned of a growing deficit in the state pension system, which could reach UAH13bn (€1.26bn) by the end of this year.
