All articles by Barbara Ottawa – Page 115
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Sweden freezes pension money to protect tax
SWEDEN – Sweden has put in place legislation to prevent individuals from transferring roughly SEK750bn (€81.1bn) in existing pension and life insurance policies to foreign insurers.
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Four Winds says "ethical business is good business"
EUROPE – New boutique Four Winds Capital says they are not looking at superficial SRI box-ticking but direct involvement in investment regions.
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Austrian Pensionskassen return 5.5%
AUSTRIA –The average return of Austrian Pensionskassen for 2006 was 5.5%, four percentage points above inflation but less than half the previous year’s bumper performance.
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Northern Trust builds LDI team for global push
GLOBAL – US asset manager Northern Trust Global Investments (NTGI) has made a number of key appointments in London and Chicago to expand its liability driven investment (LDI) capabilities.
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BNP Paribas and Credit Suisse see AUM rise by 14%
FRANCE – Financial group BNP Paribas reported a 14% growth in assets under management bringing the figure up to €491.5bn.
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Iceland expects 10% returns for pension funds (amended)
ICELAND – Judging by performance of domestic and foreign equities the Icelandic pension fund association (IPFA) is expecting pension funds to return around 10%. (amends 2005 return)
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Mandatory pensions boost Storebrand by 279%
NORWAY – Financial giant, Storebrand saw a 279% growth for group pension insurance in the fourth quarter, bringing the group’s full-year profit to NOK1.6bn (€198m), up from NOK1.45bn a year before.
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Handelsbanken mourns Browaldh’s death
SWEDEN – Tore Browaldh, former chief executive of Handelsbanken and current honorary chairman, has died aged 89.
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Institutions stem UBS’ asset management outflow
SWITZERLAND – Swiss bank UBS saw inflows into its asset management business fall to CHF37.2bn (€22.9bn) in 2006 from CHF 49.5bn in 2005, according to its annual results. However, this did not prevent it posting a 13% rise in assets under management.
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PwC finds ‘variation’ in actuarial valuations
UK – Both life expectancy assumptions and discount rates in actuarial valuations of scheme liabilities “appear to be chosen arbitrarily” rather than based on particular scheme circumstances, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) says in a new report.
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EU portability directive faces opposition
EUROPE – European parliamentarians gave conflicting views on the need for the EU’s portability directive after it emerged from discussion in the committee on economic and monetary affairs (ECON).
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HSBC strengthens multi-manager team
UK – Cara MacGregor will join HSBC Investments’ multi-manager team from Investment Solutions in April.
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Flintshire awards £305m mandates
UK – The £793m (€1.2bn) Clwyd Pension fund has awarded two unconstrained mandates worth £145m to Investec and Stone Harbour, a £120m UK equities mandate to Standard Life and a £40m GTAA mandate to Barclays Global Investors.
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Fidelity adds commodities and real estate to mixed new fund
NETHERLANDS - Fidelity International has launched a mixed investment fund, which also includes commodities and indirect property, in addition to the traditional asset classes equity, fixed income and currency, it said.
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EP wants clarity on MEP fund’s actuarial value
EUROPE – The European Parliament (EP) is looking for actuaries to evaluate the financial outlook of the MEPs’ voluntary pension fund.
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Baggage handlers reject BA pension deal
UK – The 4,500 baggage handlers working for British Airways (BA) have rejected suggestions by the management on how to deal with a £2.1bn (€3.2bn) pension hole.
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SEB sees assets climb by 13%
SWEDEN - Swedish bank SEB reported a SEK61bn (€6.7bn) net inflow to its assets under management in 2006, bringing the total to SEK1.3trn, up 13% from 2005.
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Raiffeisen sees 59% rise in Central and Eastern European assets
EUROPE – Raiffeisen International has reported a 59% growth of assets under management in all of its Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) asset management subsidiaries, bringing the total to over €3bn.
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Kiwi Greens demand Norwegian ethics
NEW ZEALAND – A leader of the Green Party in New Zealand has criticised his country’s state pension fund for investing in 12 companies the Norwegian State Pension Fund has rejected on ethical grounds.
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ABN Amro sees AUM increase by 9.7%
NETHERLANDS – Over the last year ABN Amro’s asset management business saw is assets under management rise to €192bn up from €176bn at year-end 2005.
