Investor Strategy – Page 254
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News
Folksam to screen its entire assets in SRI drive
SWEDEN- Swedish investment manager Folksam has announced a screening of its entire Sek105bn (e11.3bn) portfolio for environmentally unfriendly companies and for those that violate human rights. The strategy, launched at the beginning of the year, is underway and expected to take around six months to complete.
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Munich Re doubles stake in Commerzbank
GERMANY –Munich-based insurance and financial services group, Munich Re, has taken a further step towards diversifying into the banking sector by effectively doubling its holding in Commerzbank and reinforcing its stake in HypoVereinsBank (HVB), Germany’s third largest banking group.
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Treasurers warm to outsourcing and online dealing
GLOBAL- Corporate treasurers are becoming much happier outsourcing their activities in an attempt to manage risk and control costs, according to the latest cash management survey by JPMorgan Fleming AM and the Association of Corporate Treasurers.
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AstraZeneca equity cut not influenced by Boots
UK – The recent asset allocation shift that saw the £4.2bn (€6.8bn) AstraZeneca pension fund reduce its equity holdings by five percent in favour of fixed income was not influenced by the Boots pension fund getting rid of its entire equity portfolios last October.
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European ETF assets grow 800% in 2001
GLOBAL- Assets invested in exchange traded funds listed on European exchanges grew more than 800% in 2001 to top $5.6bn (e6.3bn) according to research by Morgan Stanley. Recent figures show there are 71 ETFs with 92 listings on six European exchanges.
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Austria's APK appoints Boehm to replace CEO Kapl
AUSTRIA- Austria’s e1.5bn APK pension fund has appointed Christian Boehm to succeed Helmut Kapl as chief executive. Boehm has been with APK since its creation in 1989 and was previously Kapl’s second in command.
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Swiss federal scheme denies reports of breaking up
SWITZERLAND – Rumours that Switzerland’s largest pension fund, the Pensionskasse des Bundes (PdB), the federal employees’ pension scheme, is to be broken up are completely unfounded, claims Felix Senn, head of asset management for the fund, which had reported assets of €22.4bn in 2000
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Swiss Fund seeks additional managers for €2.4bn
SWITZERLAND – The SFr10bn (€6.8bn) Swiss Post Office pension fund is to begin searching for additional asset managers in March, having already selected UBS Asset Management, Credit Suisse Asset Management and Pictet to run various portfolios for the recently-created fund.
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Italian rail fund to begin manager search in March
ITALY – The Italian State Railways pension fund, Fondo Pensione Eurofer, will begin looking for managers for its €25m assets in March once it has received the regulatory approval from Covip, the Italian pension fund supervisory body.
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Credit Suisse strengthens fixed income teams
UK/GERMANY/ITALY – Credit Suisse Asset Management (CSAM) has promoted three members of its European fixed income management teams based in London, Frankfurt and Milan.
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German savings bank launches pensions providers
GERMANY – The German public savings bank network, the Deutsche Sparkassen- und Giroverband (DSGV) and its fund management arm, DGZ DekaBank, has formally established three new retirement provision companies with the German public insurers’ association.
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PPM mis-sells shares for 11,000 members
SWEDEN- Faulty information supplied to Sweden’s PPM by the tax authorities and the country’s National Social Insurance Board (RVF) has led it to mis-sell shares totalling a maximum of e600,000 for more that 11,000 scheme members.
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Euro to have significant effect on property market
EUROPE – The introduction of the physical euro will have a significant symbolic impact on investor confidence in the European real estate market, suggests Lasalle Investment Management’s (Lasalle IM) latest ‘Investment Strategy Annual’ report....
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ING enters Greek life and pensions market
NETHERLANDS/GREECE – Dutch financial group, ING, has entered into a strategic alliance with Athens based Greek retail banking group, Piraeus Bank, allowing ING to become a “prominent” player in the Greek bancassurance market and extending into the fields of employee benefits and pensions....
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CSAM CEO Colebatch to resign in 2002
SWITZERLAND - Phillip Colebatch, the chief executive officer of Credit Suisse Asset Management (CSAM), is to retire during the first quarter of 2002 after 17 years with the group.....
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Parsons to head up EFG AM global marketing push
UK – EFG Asset Management, part of the global EFG banking group, has hired John Parsons, a former sales director for Barclays International Funds, to become its marketing director....
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BFr8bn Flanders tender reaches second phase
BELGIUM – The selection process to appoint asset managers for the BFr8bn (€2bn) Flanders healthcare fund has entered its second phase, though no final announcement is expected before next spring, says Edwin De Boeck, managing director of KBC Asset Management in Brussels....
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IBN adds four consultancy firms to global network
GLOBAL - International Benefits Network (IBN) has added four new member firms to its roster....
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UK funds review managers in light of Unilever case
UK - Almost half of the pension funds surveyed by SEI Investments (47%) in the light of the Unilever/Merrill Lynch court case, settled out of court last week, say that they will review their investment management arrangements as a result....
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Kottmann creates new Swiss consultancy
SWITZERLAND - Felix Kottmann, the former member of the executive committee at Swiss consultants Complementa, who left the firm earlier this year, has set up his own consultancy firm, Kottmann Advisory, with the aim of providing customized services to a selected group of international institutional and private clients in Switzerland....
