All articles by Daniel Brooksbank – Page 225
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Denmark’s ATP names Sondergaard as chairman
DENMARK – Europe’s ninth largest pension fund, Denmark’s Arbejdsmarkedets Tillaegspension, has named Jorgen Sondergaard as its new chairman.
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UK’s Opra seeks policy officer
UK – The Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority is seeking a senior policy officer to produce technical guidance and policy briefings.
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Swiss Life names SNB’s Gehrig as chairman
SWITZERLAND – Troubled Swiss Life Holding has named Swiss National Bank vice chairman Bruno Gehrig as non-executive chairman, replacing Andres Leuenberger.
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Pension fund in e50m equity mandate via IPE
EUROPE – Zurich-based consultant Kottmann Advisory, acting for a pension fund client, has placed a mandate for a 50 million euro equity portfolio via the IPE-Quest site.
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Europe begins legal process on German funds tax
EUROPE – The European Commission has begun a legal procedure against what it calls Germany’s “discriminatory” tax treatment of dividends from foreign funds.
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Professor calls for higher PAYG basic pensions
UK – A professor at the London School of Economics has called for a “much higher” level of pay-as-you-go state pensions and a ditching of the pretence that pensioners only get back what they put in via the national insurance scheme.
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Pension guarantees have economic costs – research
US – New research into personal pensions to be published by the Pension Research Council shows that there is a defined economic cost to pension guarantees, which the researchers say can be likened to a financial asset and priced accordingly.
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Sweden warns ABN Amro fund unit
SWEDEN – The Swedish financial regulator has warned ABN Amro’s Banco Fonder over violations to investment rules concerning the amount invested in unlisted securities – Banco says it may have mis-read the regulator’s intentions.
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Skandia sells American arm to Prudential
SWEDEN – Insurer and savings products company Skandia says it has agreed to sell its American arm to Prudential Financial Inc. for 1.15 billion dollars.
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Mercer questions UK pensions security
UK – Mercer Human Resource Consulting has questioned the government’s policy on ensuring the security of final salary pension schemes, saying there is incompatibility between the freedom of employers to fund the pension promise and the public’s being encouraged to believe in the promise’s security.
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SEB names Lager to head mutual fund unit
SWEDEN – SEB Asset Management has named Cecilia Lager as head of its mutual fund arm, SEB Fonder, replacing Jan Palmberg who is moving to another role within SEB.
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Fund managers positive on economy, profits
EUROPE – Euro-zone fund managers are positive about the prospects for the region’s economy in 2003, with a majority thinking the European equity market is undervalued – according to a new survey by Merrill Lynch.
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EU issues draft report on sustainable pensions
EUROPE – The European Commission says most member states will have to make further reforms to guarantee adequate pensions in an ageing society.
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EU Sustainable Pension Report: Country Analysis
EUROPE - The European Commission’s draft report (see separate story) on sustainable pensions provisions in Europe includes an analysis of the pensions system in each member state, the main conclusions of which are summarised below.
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Denmark’s PFA: Danner judgement not so important
DENMARK – The 20.5 billion euro Danish PFA pension fund has said that - despite newspaper reports - the recent judgement in the Danner case will not have a drastic impact on the Danish pensions market.
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European pension fund contributions reach e84bn
EUROPE – Total contributions to pension funds in European Union member states rose 62% to 84 billion euros over the 1997-2000 period, says the EU’s statistics office.
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J P Morgan wins Oppenheimer custody mandate
UK/US - J P Morgan Investor Services says it has been awarded a mandate to provide a “wide range of services” to OppenheimerFunds Inc.’s mutual fund assets – though it declined to say how much the deal was worth.
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EU Commission admits non-portable pension problem
EUROPE – The European Commission has admitted that it is “very much aware” that occupational pension schemes lack true portability between European Union member states.
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Sweden’s AP3 taps CoreRatings for SRI
SWEDEN – The 13.9 billion euro AP Fonden 3 Swedish pension fund says it has hired consultancy firm CoreRatings to provide socially-responsible investing advice, adding that it will take an active role in the companies in which it invests.
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SSGA wins $20m enhanced index mandate
UK – State Street Global Advisors says it has won a mandate from the Clothworkers’ Co., a London ‘livery company’, to manage a 20 million dollar enhanced indexation portfolio.
