All IPE articles in August 2003 (Online) – Page 4
-
News
EU defends officials’ regional pension weighting
EUROPE – The European Commission has defended the system of regional weightings of officials’ pensions.
-
News
NAPF to push investing in smaller companies
UK – The National Association of Pensions Funds is in talks with the Quoted Companies Alliance about how to inform its members about investing in smaller companies.
-
News
French pensions bill gets rubber stamp
FRANCE – France’s constitutional council has validated the new pensions bill, marking the final stage of the lengthy pensions reform process.
-
News
UK pensions complaints rise 26% - ombudsman
UK – Pensions complaints are increasing at such a rate, 26%, that the pensions ombudsman is finding it difficult to cope.
-
News
Unilever’s missing vote mystery partly solved
UK/NETHERLANDS - US proxy voting agency Institutional Shareholder Services has admitted to being partly responsible for the millions of lost votes at Unilever’s annual meeting.
-
News
Mercer hosts seminars on moving to DC
UK – Mercer Human Resource Consulting is hosting a series of half-day seminars on the challenge of moving to a defined contribution pension scheme.
-
News
Railpen hires ex-ISIS director Watts
UK - Railpen Investments, the investment arm of the UK Railways Pension Trustee Co., has hired Polly Watts, a former director of institutional funds at ISIS Asset Management.
-
News
S&P says European fixed-interest funds rise 3%
EUROPE – The median European fixed interest fund for each of the main investment sectors rose by three percent over the first half of 2003, says Standard & Poor’s.
-
News
SGAM UK’s new CEO confident going forward
UK – SGAM UK’s new chief executive, Keith Percy, says he is confident that the changes made to the UK equity team are working, and that consultants and clients will stand by them.
-
News
Watson Wyatt Co. reveals “billing irregularities”
US – The US arm of pension consulting firm Watson Wyatt has postponed its fourth-quarter earnings report after disclosing “billing irregularities”.
-
News
Hedge fund assets now almost $665bn – report
GLOBAL – Hedge fund assets are now almost 665 billion dollars, a record, according to Hedge Fund Research.
-
News
Allianz: still no asset management profits
GERMANY – Allianz Group’s asset management business is still unprofitable, despite increasing its assets by 3.1% over the first half of this year to 1.02 trillion euros.
-
News
Sweden’s SEB posts E287bn profit as AUM rises
SWEDEN – SEB Group has announced net profit of 2.64 billion Swedish crowns (287 million euros), and an increase in assets under management for its fund units.
-
News
Watson sees higher contributions, lower benefits
UK – Watson Wyatt has found that that many companies in the UK are raising member contributions and cutting benefits to cut pension costs.
-
News
BAA scheme in partial shift to enhanced indexing
UK – The pension scheme of international airports group, BAA, has moved some of its portfolio out of a passive strategy into an enhanced index strategy.
-
News
UBS GAM says its institutional margins rise
SWITZERLAND – The margins on UBS Global Asset Management’s institutional business rose to 35 basis points in the second quarter, up from 29 basis points in the first quarter of the year.
-
News
Bank of England warns companies on pensions
UK – The Bank of England has warned that companies risk losing staff if they cut pension provision or reduce pay to finance pension fund shortfalls.
-
News
Italy’s Inpdap sees retirement age rising to 70
ITALY – A senior public sector social security figure has said the retirement age for Italian citizens could be increased to 70.
-
News
Hewitt surveys European corporate governance
EUROPE – Consulting firm Hewitt is currently conducting a Europe-wide study into corporate governance.
-
News
Insight multi-managers move to Gartmore
UK – Insight Investment has lost its five-strong multi-manager team to Gartmore Investment Management – though Insight says its multi-manager conviction is “unchanged”.
