All IPE articles in November 2009 (Online)
View all stories from this issue.
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NewsItaly sees €200m in pension inflows over three months
ITALY - Assogestioni, the Italian asset management association, said open plan pension funds saw net inflows of just €218m between July and September 2009, taking the overall net value of Italian pension fund assets to nearly €6bn.
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NewsUK roundup - Torfaen, RPMI, BMI, Harrods, East Riding
[16:30 CET 30-11] UK – Torfaen Council has appointed a global equity manager, while RPMI has been awarded the administration contract for the Arup pension fund.
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NewsPension schemes warned to prepare inflation-proof strategies
[16:15 CET 30-11] GLOBAL/UK – Pension funds and other institutional investors, particularly those with inflation-linked liabilities, have been advised by Watson Wyatt to plan ahead for a return to high inflation, even though suitable investments could in some cases prove expensive.
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NewsCredit Suisse pension fund cuts equities
[16:00 CET 30-11] SWITZERLAND – Credit Suisse reduced the equity exposure in its Pensionskasse by 10 percentage points in September and October, but officials have indicated they may hike the fund's equity holding again soon.
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NewsInvestors seek new route for investment volatility
[15:15 CET 30-11] GLOBAL - New entrant to the indices market Thomson Reuters is in the process of developing benchmarks to help European and Asian institutional investors reduce volatility in their portfolios.
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NewsFootballer scheme returns 4% on 100% fixed income
[13:00 CET 30-11] NETHERLANDS - The €600m retirement bridging fund for Dutch professional footballers (CFK) has generated a 4% return on investments, after allocating all of its assets to fixed income.
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NewsGauzès proposes 138 changes to AIFM Directive (additional comment)
[16:55 CET 27-11] EUROPE - Jean-Paul Gauzès, rapporteur for the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs has proposed 138 changes to the European Commission’s Directive on Alternative Investment Fund Managers (AIFM), in a draft report published yesterday.
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NewsUK firm uses project assets to cut pension deficit
[16:50 CET 27-11] UK – Interserve, a UK services, maintenance and building group, has transferred its stake in a portfolio of 13 Private Finance Initiatives (PFI) to its £400m (€441m) pension scheme to help reduce its funding deficit.
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NewsIPE study: Good marks for consultants on asset allocation
[16:45 CET 27-11] EUROPE - Pension funds responding to an IPE survey have largely given their thumbs-up to consultants as providers of asset allocation.
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NewsIrish schemes get breathing space on DB benefit cut rules
[16:40 CET 27-11] IRELAND – The Pensions Board has extended until June next year the deadline for schemes filing a funding proposal related to DB benefit reduction. But the Irish Business and Employers Confederation (IBEC) claimed the guidance is still too strict.
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NewsUK pension funds demand more long-dated bond issuance
[16:30 CET 27-11] UK - Four-fifths of UK pension funds want to see the government issue more long-dated and index-linked gilts as a way of guaranteeing returns. This follows a year where the number of defined benefit (DB) schemes remaining open to new members fell to an all-time low.
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Dutch pension funds remain ‘vulnerable’
[13:00 CET 27-11] NETHERLANDS – The Dutch pensions supervisor, De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB), has reported in its November financial stability report that the financial situation of pension funds remains vulnerable, writes Mariska van der Westen for our Dutch sister publication IPN. The DNB says that funds have not yet recovered, ...
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NewsIrish pensions framework to have lead-in time
[16:50 CET 26-11] IRELAND – Mary Hanafin, minister of social and family affairs, has admitted the National Pensions Framework being developed by the government will not be introduced immediately, in order to minimise pressure on the pension industry.
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NewsLCP study confirms wide variances in discount rates
[16:45 CET 26-11] EUROPE - The discount rates used by some of the world’s largest listed companies varied wildly last year when measuring the value of their European pension funds for accounting purposes, according to a report by Lane Clark & Peacock.
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NewsWalker review calls for investors' stewardship code
[16:10 CET 26-11] UK – The final report of the Walker Review into corporate governance has recommended institutional investors should abide by a new Stewardship Code, developed from the principles set out by the Institutional Shareholders Committee (ISC).
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NewsAFM to check indexation labels from April
[15:45 CET 26-11] NETHERLANDS - The Dutch pensions communications regulator, the AFM, will start checking that pension funds are correctly using the indexation label from 1 April next year – three months after its introduction on 1 January 2010.
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NewsTime is ripe for LDI, says Union's Neumann
GLOBAL - Active management and risk management are key parts of a pension fund's armoury in the post-crisis financial environment, according to Union Investment's head of quantitative strategies Thorsten Neumann, and liability-driven investment (LDI) will take on renewed importance.
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NewsFiduciary management to evolve as 'risk will be the new return'
[15:15 CET 26-11] GLOBAL - Fiduciary management is entering a “post-product” era with the creation of bespoke, unbundled services for pension funds, and assets managers will win “the fiduciary turf war” in the battle for business, according to a report on the fiduciary management market.
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NewsWednesday people roundup
[17:05 CET 25-11] GLOBAL – ING IM Europe, Lane Clark & Peacock, Hewitt Associates, Vanguard Group, MSCI, SWIP, Armstrong IM, Russell Investments, PensionsFirst Analytics, Insparo, Corestate
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NewsMost Dutch insurers issue UPOs by deadline - VvV
[16:40 CET 25-11] NETHERLANDS – Dutch insurance-based pension providers have considerably cleaned up their acts, according to the Dutch Association of Insurers (VvV), as 89% of companies managed to send out their Uniform Pension Statements (UPOs) to members on time this year.
