All IPE articles in December 2007 (Online) – Page 5

News
Cyprus to toughen pensions terms

2007-12-14T15:45:00Z

[16:45 CET 14-12] REPUBLIC OF CYPRUS – Greek Cypriots are likely to have to pay higher social security contributions and face tougher claims terms at retirement, under proposals for reform of the Greek Cypriot pensions system.
News
Swiss funds to get governance index

2007-12-17T12:30:00Z

[13:30 CET 17-12] SWITZERLAND – Swiss Pensionskassen are not as bad as their reputation, according to Andreas Zingg, a researcher at the university of St. Gallen who is looking into pension fund governance.
News
DWP finances collapsed pensions with scheme top-up

2007-12-17T13:00:00Z

[15:00 CET 17-12] UK - The UK government is extending its Financial Assistance Scheme by £935m (€1.31bn) to help 140,000 members of failed occupational schemes by combining the residual scheme assets with a government top-up.
News
PFA leaps allocation to tap infrastructure growth

2007-12-17T14:30:00Z

[15:30 CET 17-12] DENMARK – The huge Danish PFA corporate pension fund has boosted its infrastructure investment and plans to move even further into the asset class next year, probably including direct investments in the sector for the first time.
News
PBU targets Suzuki and Siemens on Burmese action

2007-12-17T14:45:00Z

[15:45 CET 17-12] DENMARK - Pædagogernes Pensionskasse (PBU), the Danish pension fund for education practitioners, is engaging with five companies operating in Burma about its concerns over ethical matters.
News
VB calls for removal of pensions merger barriers

2007-12-17T15:00:00Z

[16:00 CET 17-12] NETHERLANDS - The government should increase the competitiveness of the Dutch pension sector by removing fiscal barriers to scheme mergers, instead of abolishing mandatory participation, the Association of Industry-wide Pension Funds (VB) has suggested.
News
Indexation label 'not strong enough' - Aon

2007-12-17T15:15:00Z

[16:15 CET 17-12] NETHERLANDS - The new indexation label for pension funds’ participants should not only indicate the expected quality of the future indexation, but also provide clarity on the entire pension arrangements, consulting firm Aon has argued.
News
Pension funds negotiate investment rules

2007-12-17T15:30:00Z

[16:30 CET 17-12] BULGARIA – The association of Bulgarian pension management companies (BASPC) has called on the government to lift the cap on mandatory pension schemes’ investment in equities and argued schemes should be allowed to participate in IPOs.
News
Weir Group sells part of £550m fund to L&G

2007-12-17T15:40:00Z

[16:40 CET 17-12] UK - Legal & General Group has agreed to provide the future pension payments of 4,500 existing pensioners of the Weir Group Pension & Retirement Savings Scheme in a deal worth almost £250m (€351m).
News
ABP to expand European engagement partnerships (amended)

2007-12-18T10:00:00Z

[11:00 CET 18-12] NETHERLANDS – The €218bn Dutch pension fund ABP is due to expand its cooperation with a number of other European pension funds to create new external stakeholder engagement partnerships.
News
Arek Oy signs five-year deal with IBM

2007-12-18T11:00:00Z

[12:00 CET 18-12] FINLAND - Arek Oy has agreed a five-year deal to allow IBM to manage its IT infrastructure starting immediately.
News
Chemie Pensionsfonds gets new owner

2007-12-18T12:00:00Z

[13:00 CET 18-12] GERMANY – Munich-based banking group HypoVereinsbank (HVB) has sold its pension fund companies Chemie Pensionsfonds and HVB Pensionsfonds to insurer R+V, for an undisclosed sum.
News
Mercer signs Höfer deal

2007-12-18T13:00:00Z

[14:00 CET 18-12] GERMANY - Mercer Germany's Frankfurt-based operation has signed an agreement to take over German pension consultant Höfer Vorsorge-Management on January 1.
News
Head of OTP Fond de Pensii quits

2007-12-18T14:00:00Z

ROMANIA - The chief executive of the Romanian pension fund manager OTP Fond de Pensii has resigned over strategic differences.
News
DNB find schemes "too liberal" in assumptions

2007-12-18T15:00:00Z

[16:00 CET 18-12] NETHERLANDS – "A number" of pension funds are too liberal in the expected returns assumptions used as a basis for establishing costs covering contributions, according to pension regulator De Nederlandsche Bank.
News
Regulator sees DB surpluses climb £52.7bn

2007-12-18T15:15:00Z

[16:15 CET 18-12] UK - Over 5,800 defined benefit schemes have increased their aggregate surplus by £52.7bn (€73.7bn) over the last year, according to the Purple Book 2007.
News
BMW mulls pension transfer

2007-12-18T15:30:00Z

[16:30 CET 18-12] GERMANY – Munich-based luxury carmaker Bayerische Motoren Werke (BMW) has said it looking funding its pension liabilities externally, possibly via a so called contractual trust arrangement (CTA).
News
Newsquest proposals slammed by MPs

2007-12-19T10:00:00Z

[11:00 CET 18-12] UK - MPs in the House of Commons have criticised plans by UK publishing house Newsquest to alter its final salary pension scheme.
News
Hungarian funds increase equity exposure

2007-12-19T11:00:00Z

[13:00 CET 19-12] HUNGARY – Pension funds will start to double equity exposure in some portfolios from January in anticipation of new regulation.
News
CalPERS pursues infrastructure and private equity

2007-12-19T11:30:00Z

[12:30 CET 19-12] US - The California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) has adopted a new asset allocation mix which will see $29bn shift out of bonds and equities to finance increased investment in private equity, infrastructure and real estate.