All articles by Dickon Reid – Page 8
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Pena replaces Valbuena as Fonditel chief
SPAIN- Santiago Fernandez Valbuena has stepped down as chief executive of Spain’s largest occupational pension fund Fonditel to take up a post as chief financial officer at Telefonica Group.
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UK fund gloom continues with 5% first half losses
UK- UK pension funds lost a further 5% in the first six months of the year according to initial estimates from performance measurement consultancy WM Company. The latest figures follow two consecutive years of negative returns, the first time this has happened since the early 1970s.
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S&P hire beefs up multi manager IMS research team
UK- Richard Timberlake’s multi manager outfit Investment Manager Selection (IMS) has appointed Neil Clare from Standard & Poor’s where he was a senior analyst. Clare, who is a specialist on Japan and the Pacific, joins the eight-strong research team which contains many of his old colleagues.
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Institutions remain upbeat about equity prospects
UK/US- institutional investors remain upbeat about the prospects for world markets despite lowering their expectations for growth, profits and prices.
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UK funds issue e220m specialist fixed income RFP
UK- The e1,350m superannuation funds of the Welsh county councils Rhonnda, Cynon and Taff are stripping out up to £140m in fixed income from their balanced managers and looking for a fixed income specialist to invest it in global bonds.
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Mercers calls for greater pensions education
UK- Consultant Mercers has criticised the government and employers for failing to invest in educating pension scheme members saying it is one of the biggest problems facing the industry.
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Schroders set to retain e313m Yorkshire mandate
UK- The £1.3bn East Riding of Yorkshire pension fund has drawn up a shortlist of three investment managers to run a £200m (e313m) global active equity mandate. Schroders, the incumbent manager, is rumoured to have been retained to run the funds.
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Managers urge agencies to clarify fund definitions
EUROPE- Eleven of Europe’s largest investment managers have clubbed together and are pressurising three major ratings agencies, Standard & Poor’s, Morningstar and Lipper, to introduce more consistency to the way they categorise funds.
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US funds head for third year of negative returns
US- Volatile markets continue to take their toll on US pensions schemes which are now heading for their third consecutive year of negative returns. Figures from Mercer Investment Consulting show corporate funds losing 5.5.% in the first half of the year while public plans and foundation/endowment funds lost a respective ...
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Standard Life launches new Dollar cash fund
IRELAND- Standard Life Investments has launched a new US dollar money market fund to complement its Dublin-based sterling and Euro-denominated sub funds.
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Gissings launches attack on multi management
UK- Pension consultancy Gissings has attacked the practice of multi management accusing it of lacking transparency and the ability to provide tactical asset allocation as well as being straightforward consultancy but in a different guise.
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Mellon appoints consultant relationship manager
UK/EUROPE- Mellon Global Securities Services has appointed Amanda Field to its newly-created position of consultant relationship manager. Representing both Mellon European Fund Services and ABN Amro Mellon, Field will build contacts with the European consultant community.
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PGGM moves into inflation-linked bond market
NETHERLANDS- PGGM, the e50bn pension fund for Dutch healthcare and social workers had hired Barclays Global Investors to build a new $200m active inflation-linked bond portfolio.
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Nestor joins Citi as European institutional head
UK- Henderson Global Investors’ director of institutional marketing John Nestor is leaving to take up a position as head of Citigroup Asset Management’s institutional business in Europe.
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Canada Pension Plan puts e370m in private equity
CANADA- The investment board of the CS$14.3bn (€9.3bn) national Canadian pension fund has announced it is allocating a e370m to three new private equity funds.
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MLIM and J Sainsbury settle underperformance claim
UK- Merrill Lynch Investment Managers and the £2.4bn (e3.8bn) pension fund of retailer J Sainsbury have avoided going to court over alleged underperformance following a settlement of an undisclosed amount. The supermarket group had been pursuing a claim from Merrills following the landmark payment made to Unilever last year.
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Watson Wyatt names Eyre as multinational advisor
UK– Watson Wyatt has appointed Peter Eyre as a senior consultant advising multinational clients on the management of their worldwide employee benefits programmes.
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Towers to promote Russell's multi management
UK- Consultant Towers Perrin has announced an alliance with Frank Russell under which it will promote the latter’s multi management product for its UK pension fund clients.
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Majority of UK companies shun FRS17
UK- The majority of UK companies have yet to take up the new pensions accounting standard FRS17. A survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers survey illustrates a lack of enthusiasm for early adoption of FRS 17 with only two out of a random sample of fifty FTSE 250 companies confirming they have implemented ...
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Irish pooled pension funds lose 10% in Q2
IRELAND- A sharp downturn in global equity markets has led pooled, mixed asset pension funds in Ireland to fall by 10% in the second quarter of the year according to figures from Mercer Investment Consulting in Dublin.
