GERMANY - German financial services giant Allianz has named a new head of pension research.

Brigitte Miksa replaced Dorothee Franzen in the role earlier this year, it has emerged.

Miksa joined Allianz in 2001 to become head of Pension Business in dbi | Allianz Dresdner Asset Management.

From mid 2004 on she focused on the development of the AGI international pension activities in Europe and Asia. She was also board member of the Allianz Dresdner Pension Fund AG (ADPF).

Franzen left to work with Oxford University in the UK.

Franzen told IPE in 2005 that the factors driving the growth of pension assets in Europe and Asia were entirely different:

"In western Europe the aim is to curb the generosity of the state pensions system and close the pension gap by increasing coverage of the private funded pension system.

"Asian Pacific governments, on the other hand, face the challenge of increasing pension coverage in all pension systems."