ITALY – Italian bank Cassa di Risparmio di Parma e Piacenza SpA is looking for an insurance company for its €85m corporate pension fund.

The fund, which is not independent of the bank, combines the pension provisions of a number of merged banks and has about 3,400 members.

The bank has launched a request for tenders for an insurance company to take over a new pension arrangement for members who joined the pension schemes in the last 10 years.

A fund official said that the current asset manager, Intesa Previdenza SIM, a joint venture between banking group Intesa and insurer Assicurazioni Generali, was appointed in 2000. As its contract expires in 2006, the fund will make a decision by November.

But the official stressed that any insurer appointed will not manage assets, as Intesa Previdenza does currently. The new appointee will only provide a new pension solution for the post-1993 employees.

The scheme has seen its rules change, with members who joined after 1993 now only being entitled to a 50% lump-sum, compared to 100% before. About 1,000 members are affected.

Documents, in Italian, must be returned by the beginning of July.

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