All articles by Fennell Betson – Page 14
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News
Koenig to quit Morgan Stanley in Frankfurt
GERMANY - Peter Koenig of Morgan Stanley’ institutional asset management team in Frankfurt is leaving after five years with the group. Koenig says that the decision was on a “mutually amicable basis”. He will be leaving at the end of June.
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News
Consultants say employers should be able to cap DB commitments
UK – Once employers contribute a reasonable sum into a final salary pension scheme, there should be no obligations to fund their schemes further, says London-based actuarial consultancy Wolansky & Co, responding to the UK government’s green paper pension proposals.
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Features
The fund with an iron grip
The Hoechst Pensionskasse in Frankfurt is not only one of the oldest pension schemes in Germany, but it is also the most influential in shaping both the private and public sectors’ approach to pensions. “Ideas such as a widow’s pension at 60% of the member’s pension, having a qualifying period ...
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News
UK MP sees firms going “nuclear” on pensions
BELGIUM - An increasing number of UK companies could be pressing the nuclear button on their pension schemes, predicts Labour MP Frank Field, who believes that pensions issues could be the dominant theme in the next British general election.
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News
EU Parliament head shifts pensions debate
BELGIUM - The focus of the debate about ageing, pensions and demographics needed to be shifted, said Pat Cox, president of the European Parliament.
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News
EU’s Solbes outlines demographic challenge
BELGIUM - The challenges Europe faces demographically have been spelt out by Pedro Solbes, European Commissioner for economic and monetary affairs.
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Features
JPMIS's German surge
Global custodian JP Morgan Investor Services (JPMIS) says it had a bumper year in the German marketplace in 2002. Assets for which it acts as depot bank and custodian doubled to $40bn (E37bn) during the year, with total client assets under custody increasing to $80bn. Arnulf Manhold, business executive, JPMIS, ...
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Features
DTCC's wake-up call to Europe
Securities settlement in Europe is known to be more costly and inefficient than in the US. These pale into insignificance when compared with the financial assault on investors in European investment funds, again in contrast with their counter parts on the other side of the Atlantic. In the US, the ...
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News
London exchange chief slams tax on pension funds
UK – Chancellor Gordon Brown’s five billion pound (7.3 billion euro) tax on dividend income paid by pension funds has been described as a threat to the position of the City of London – the UK’s financial heartland - by London Stock Exchange chief executive Clara Furse.
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News
Pension funds still need equities says IAPF
IRELAND – Pension funds need not be unduly concerned in the long term by the falls in the equity markets due to their investment time horizons, John Feely, chair of the Irish Association of Pension Funds, in a letter to Irish funds on market volatility. But he acknowledges that “recent ...
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News
ING sees AM contribution to profits halved
NETHERLANDS - Assets under management at the giant Dutch financial services ING Group dropped by 12.5% in 2001to 449 euro billions with assets managed for institutional clients falling by 21.1%. The asset management share of group operating profits amounted to 283 euro millions declined from 10% to 5% in 2002. ...
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News
Indexchange launches fixed income ETF
GERMANY - Europe’s first exchange traded fund, or ETF, tracking a fixed income index has been launched by Munich-based Indexchange.
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Features
The Neyt legacy
The only guide to managing our pension fund assets are our liabilities – these are the raison d’être of pension funds. Never think asset only. You must not manage a pension fund like an investment fund. Your asset allocation is based on your liability characteristics. So if they are index-linked ...
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Features
Building up extra pension
The big Dutch pension schemes have come under increasing member and political pressure to offer more individually tailored pension plans offering greater choice and flexibility than the uniform approach demanded by the defined benefit structures. One response was to set up an insurance subsidiary to be able to provide individual ...
