All IPE articles in April 2009 (Online) – Page 8

  • News

    APG makes sustainability call to pension funds

    2009-04-28T13:30:00Z

    [14:30 CEST 28-04] EUROPE - APG Investments, the wholly-owned asset manager of the ABP pension fund, is planning to launch a global real estate sustainability survey with the University of Maastricht.

  • News

    Dutch discount rate set to change – Van Nunen

    2009-04-28T14:15:00Z

    [15:15 CEST 28-04] NETHERLANDS – Dutch pension funds are not as poor as they look and calculation methods for liabilities will change to draw a more accurate picture, according to Dutch fiduciary management consultant Anton Van Nunen.

  • News

    AADB to test Mazars' role in PensCorp/ Thresher deal

    2009-04-28T14:45:00Z

    [15:45 CEST 28-04] UK – The UK’s Accountancy and Actuarial Discipline Board (AADB) has launched an investigation into the advice given by an individual and by accounting and consultancy firm Mazars to trustees of the First Quench Pension Fund, which was bought in 2007 through a controversial deal by Pension ...

  • News

    Ukraine's pension deficit could reach €1.2bn

    2009-04-28T15:00:00Z

    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.

  • News

    Etera and Veritas Q1 losses stay below 2%

    2009-04-28T15:10:00Z

    [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.

  • News

    Whitbread sets out recovery plan for £388m deficit

    2009-04-28T15:20:00Z

    [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.

  • News

    Asset managers 'could do more' on pensions

    2009-04-28T15:30:00Z

    [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.

  • News

    Mercer takes on competitors with ‘boutique’ research

    2009-04-28T16:00:00Z

    [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.

  • News

    Gov't admits it will not leave RMPP fully funded

    2009-04-28T16:25:00Z

    [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.

  • News

    Wednesday people roundup

    2009-04-29T15:30:00Z

    [16:30 CEST 29-04] GLOBAL – People roundup: ICGN, RiskMetrics, Hymans Robertson, Nordea, BNP Paribas.

  • News

    SBZ to shift staff to external admin provider

    2009-04-29T15:50:00Z

    [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.

  • News

    Robeco seeks to become a 'truly responsible investor'

    2009-04-29T16:00:00Z

    [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.

  • News

    Berkshire halves equity assets under new strategy

    2009-04-29T16:10:00Z

    [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%.

  • News

    Personal accounts to rollout ahead of auto-enrolment

    2009-04-29T16:15:00Z

    [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.

  • News

    Hanafin criticised for 'rushing' DB changes

    2009-04-29T16:20:00Z

    [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.

  • Dutch gov’t keeps pushing for Flex AOW
    News

    Dutch gov’t keeps pushing for Flex AOW

    2009-04-30T12:00:00Z

    [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.

  • News

    Economic crisis could lengthen deficit recoveries

    2009-04-30T15:00:00Z

    [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.

  • BNP wins over Fortis Belgium shareholders
    News

    BNP wins over Fortis Belgium shareholders

    2009-04-30T15:15:00Z

    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.

  • News

    UK and Germany yet to embrace sustainable investing

    2009-04-30T15:45:00Z

    [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 ...

  • Regulators urged to leave pension funds alone
    News

    Regulators urged to leave pension funds alone

    2009-04-30T16:00:00Z

    [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.