Returns – Page 182

  • News

    UK deficits hit £194bn in 2008

    2009-01-12T15:30:00Z

    [16:30 CET 12-01] UK – Pension scheme funding was substantially worse in the UK last year than in 2007, the Pension Protection Fund has revealed, as aggregate deficits rose to over £194bn (€ by the end of December and the total assets valued within pension funds are thought to have ...

  • News

    Pharmacists’ pension prescribes 2% indexation

    2009-01-12T14:45:00Z

    [15:45 CET 12-01] NETHERLANDS - The €1bn pension fund for pharmacies’ staff (PMA) has granted all its participants an indexation of 2% for 2009.

  • CEO-less Eureko taps shareholders
    News

    CEO-less Eureko taps shareholders

    2009-01-09T15:21:00Z

    [16:30 CET 09-01] NETHERLANDS – Dutch insurance giant Eureko, whose chief executive stepped down earlier this month, has asked shareholders for capital to bolster solvency levels.

  • Half of Swiss schemes underfunded
    News

    Half of Swiss schemes underfunded

    2009-01-09T14:54:00Z

    [16:00 CET 09-01] SWITZERLAND – The Swiss Federal Social Insurance Office has estimated that currently around half of all Swiss pension funds are underfunded.

  • Iberia says no to BA pension fund top-up
    News

    Iberia says no to BA pension fund top-up

    2009-01-09T12:48:00Z

    [15:00 CET 09-01] SPAIN – Spanish carrier Iberia will not make any injection into the ailing British Airways (BA) pension fund if the companies' planned merger goes ahead, IPE has learnt.

  • M&S says trustees back pension curbs
    News

    M&S says trustees back pension curbs

    2009-01-07T13:02:00Z

    [16:30 CET 07-01] UK – The trustees of the Marks & Spencer Final Salary Pension Scheme are “very supportive” of the decision announced today to curb benefits for the fund’s 21,000 members, company management says.

  • News

    KLM schemes split on indexation

    2009-01-07T11:46:00Z

    [16:00 CET 07-01] NETHERLANDS – Two of the three pension funds of Dutch airline KLM will grant their participants a full indexation for 2009.

  • News

    Equity-biased UK authorities lose out – WM

    2009-01-06T15:29:00Z

    UK - State Street’s WM pension fund estimates for 2008 have shown that schemes with a bias towards equities such as local authorities will be more affected by the market turmoil than their more bond-heavy corporate cousins.

  • USS expects 15-year recovery from crisis
    News

    USS expects 15-year recovery from crisis

    2009-01-06T15:23:00Z

    [16:23 CET 06-01] UK – The £26bn (€29.6bn) Universities Superannuation Scheme reckons it could it take up to 15 years to recover from the current financial crisis – and that there’s a “golden opportunity” to restructure its portfolio.

  • Irish pensions drop €27bn in 2008
    News

    Irish pensions drop €27bn in 2008

    2009-01-06T14:40:00Z

    IRELAND – Irish pension funds lost €27bn in 2008, following a final fall of 3.1% in December, Rubicon Investment Consulting has revealed.

  • News

    Philips pension fund sues Hewitt

    2009-01-05T15:49:00Z

    UK – The trustees of the £2bn (€2.15bn) Philips Electronics UK pension fund have filed a lawsuit against consulting firm Hewitt Associates and one of its former top executives.

  • News

    Fifth of small schemes to cut UK equities in 2009

    2009-01-05T15:36:00Z

    UK – More than 20% of the smallest firms offering defined benefit (DB) schemes plan to decrease their allocation to UK equities over the next year, research from the Association of Consulting Actuaries (ACA) has revealed.

  • News

    Ireland’s NPRF reviews strategy amid bank bailout

    2009-01-05T15:33:00Z

    IRELAND – The National Pension Reserve Fund has acknowledged it will have to review its investment strategy in the light of a government bailout of the Irish banking sector.

  • News

    Dutch midwives get 2% indexation

    2009-01-05T15:24:00Z

    [16:00 CET 05-01] NETHERLANDS - The €142m pension fund for midwives has granted its participants an indexation of 2% for 2009 despite a cover ratio of 101%

  • An upbeat Christmas carol
    Features

    An upbeat Christmas carol

    January 2009 (Magazine)

    In A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens describes his most famous character as follows: “External heat and cold had little influence on Scrooge. No warmth could warm, no wintry weather chill him. No wind that blew was bitterer than he, no falling snow was more intent upon its purpose, no pelting ...

  • Features

    Negative streak continues

    January 2009 (Magazine)

    Hedge funds continued their negative streak for the sixth month in a row, falling 0.8% as November saw the continuation of several of the dominant themes from September and October: distressed selling, deleveraging and redemptions among hedge funds, heightened volatility and an increasing disconnect between asset prices and underlying fundamentals, ...

  • News

    Delta Lloyd scheme grants full indexation

    2008-12-23T14:30:00Z

    [15:30 CET 23-12] NETHERLANDS - The €1.4bn pension fund of insurer Delta Lloyd Group has granted its participants full indexation for 2009.

  • News

    VB to look into its members’ costs

    2008-12-23T14:15:00Z

    [15:15 CET 23-12] NETHERLANDS - The Dutch association of industry-wide pension funds (VB) has commissioned a study into the costs of its 82 members in a bid help affiliated schemes compare the charges they incur.

  • News

    NPRF to pay for €5.5bn bank bailout

    2008-12-22T15:40:00Z

    [16:40 CET 22-12] IRELAND – The Irish government has confirmed it is to invest an initial €5.5bn into three banks, though the National Pension reserve Fund (NPRF) could earn up to €500m a year from the deal as it is expected to be the "main source of funding" for the ...

  • News

    ABP and PFZW skip indexation

    2008-12-22T15:35:00Z

    [16:35 CET 22-12] NETHERLANDS - Neither the large civil service pension fund ABP nor healthcare scheme PFZW will grant their participants an indexation payment for 2009.