NETHERLANDS - Roland van den Brink, chief investment officer at the €19bn Dutch metals industry fund PME, has likened his fund to the US university endowments Yale and Harvard.

"Certainly with respect to focus on the information ratio and approaches to asset investment I would say funds like Harvard and Yale have a similar approach (including alpha and beta investing)," van den Brink was quoted as saying in a Goldman Sachs economic research report.

Goldman interviewed him as part of its pensions and insurance industry research comment.

"I believe more and more pension funds worldwide are adopting liability benchmarking," he was quoted adding. And he also told the investment bank that he saw regulatory change and the emphasis on risk management would be an impetus for active hedge.

Van den Brink also said that over time PME was looking to increase its exposure t alternative asset classes such as infrastructure and commodities.

The comments come as Goldman Sachs' global economics research team has announced the setting up of a pensions and insurance section on its web site.

"We are pleased to announce the launch of our dedicated Pensions and Insurance webpage on the Goldman Sachs Institutional Portal," Goldman said.

The site contains Goldman's research on pensions and insurance and related topics and links to external websites.

"The website will be regularly updated, so please be sure to check for new research, updates, and additions." It's at
https://portal.gs.com/gs/portal/research/econ/global/econpensions/

Separately, Goldman Sachs Asset Management has boosted its global currency team with the appointment of two new executive directors.

Francesca Fornasari joins from Morgan Stanley while Steve Ellis comes from Lehman Brothers. Both will report to head of currency Andrew Bound.

"We are very pleased to welcome Francesca and Steve to the team," said Phil Moffitt, co-head of global fixed income and currency.

"Their appointments underline GSAM's continuing commitment and strength in fixed income and currencies and are further evidence of its growth strategy."

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