All articles by Daniel Brooksbank – Page 222
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News
Polish pensions body joins EFRP
POLAND - The Polish Chamber of Pension Funds has joined the European Federation for Retirement Provision – the first fruit of the EFRP’s push into expanding its membership in countries that are set to join the European Union.
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UK property returned 10.5% in 2002 – IPD
UK – Property was the best performing UK asset class last year with an annual return of 10.5%, says investment property data firm IPD.
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UK’s South Yorkshire reappoints PIRC for SRI
UK – The 2.6 billion pound (3.9 billion euro) South Yorkshire Pensions Authority has reappointed Pensions Investment and Research Consultants for three-year corporate governance and socially responsibility investment mandates. The size of fee was not disclosed.
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ABP shrinks in size by 7% to e135.5bn
NETHERLANDS – Hit by falling stock markets, Europe’s largest pension fund, the Dutch civil servants’ ABP, has posted a 7.2% decline in its capital value to 135.5 billion euros – though it sees no reason to change its investment strategy.
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Unilever “remains committed” to defined benefits
UK – The head of the 6.7 billion euro Unilever UK pension scheme has hit back at newspaper criticism, saying the Anglo-Dutch consumer products company “remains committed” to its defined benefits scheme and it will pay more money into the fund if needed.
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Russell, Novaster sign Spain marketing pact
SPAIN – Multi-manager specialist Frank Russell Co. has signed a marketing pact with Spanish pension consultancy Novaster.
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Position data compromises hedge funds - survey
GLOBAL – The disclosure of detailed position-level data is seen as compromising the performance of hedge funds, according to a new survey by Capital Market Risk Advisors and the International Association of Financial Engineers.
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Mistra taps T. Rowe for e11m ethical mandate
SWEDEN – The 364 million euro Swedish Foundation for Strategic Environmental Research, or Mistra, has awarded T. Rowe Price a 100 million kronor (10.9 million euro) mandate to manage the 10%-20% of its US and European shares that are selected using ethical criteria.
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AIMA names chairman as membership surges
UK – The Alternative Investment Management Association has named Christopher Fawcett as its new chairman, following a 34% growth in its membership.
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AP2 appoints 13 external managers
SWEDEN - The 13.6 billion euro second Swedish national pension fund, AP2, has appointed what it calls a “network” of 13 external investment managers in 14 separate equity sectors – though no agreements about size of mandates has yet been reached.
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UK pension deficit doubles under FRS17 – report
UK – The funding deficit for UK pension schemes is around 130 billion pounds (197.5 billion euros) under the FRS17 accounting rule - although the actual deficit is around half that figure, according to estimates by pension consultant Watson Wyatt. It calls the rule “a highly volatile indicator”.
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NY hires ex-Deutsche pensions chief MacIntyre
US – Desmond MacIntyre, former head of Deutsche Bank’s European pensions strategy group, is to be chief investment officer in the New York City Comptroller’s office, according to press reports.
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Norway’s KLP shuns 27 companies on SRI grounds
NORWAY – Asset manager KLP has excluded 27 companies – including European heavy-hitters such as Nestle, Unilever, Siemens and TotalFinaElf – on ethical grounds, as part of a policy that it says is in line with corporate values and “customer preferences”.
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Watson says global pension assets decline 12%
GLOBAL – Watson Wyatt says global institutional pension fund assets fell by 12% to 1.4 trillion dollars in 2002, leaving many pension funds in the “difficult predicament” of facing pressure to get their balance sheets back in shape.
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More questions over UK pension statistics
UK – The opposition Conservative party has renewed its attack on pension contribution statistics, saying contributions to funded pensions are 14 billion pounds (21.3 billion euros) a year lower than the government’s claimed 46 billion pounds – though the government dismissed the story.
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Pension costs hit Netherlands’ Oce
NETHERLANDS – Printing technology company Oce says higher pension premiums will hits its earnings in 2003.
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State Street’s fourth-quarter fee revenue falls
US – State Street Corp.’s fourth-quarter total fee revenue fell slightly to 706 million dollars, from 709 million dollars in the same period in 2001 – as the company announced a 500 million dollar share issue that will help fund its acquisition of Deutsche Bank’s custody unit.
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Call for change to Polish pension system
POLAND – A researcher at the Warsaw School of Economics has called for “fundamental changes” to be made to Poland’s 7.6 billion dollar pensions system.
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Calpers ends 40-year wait for female board member
US – The largest pension fund in the world, Calpers, has named Priya Sara Mathur as the first woman to its board for 40 years. Not only that, but the 29-year old is also the 133 billion dollar fund’s youngest ever board member.
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Green Paper lacking on custody - Northern Trust
UK – Custody services provider Northern Trust says the government’s recent pension reform proposals did not address a key aspect of the Myners report dealing with the independence of custodianship.
