All articles by Jan Wagner – Page 6

  • Features

    Swiss moves to tighten regulation

    April 2007 (Magazine)

    Better late than never. After months of scandals involving Swiss pension funds, the Berne government has finally woken up. This summer it plans to unveil legislation to improve regulation and corporate governance of Pensionskassen.

  • News

    Euroclear sets up Frankfurt shop

    30 March 2007

    GERMANY – Euroclear is opening an office in Frankfurt to challenge arch-rival Clearstream more oprenly on its home turf.

  • News

    Georg Seil and Towers Perrin lose consultants

    28 March 2007

    GERMANY- Georg Seil, chief executive of the eponymous German investment consultancy, has confirmed that two of his senior consultants, including a team leader, are leaving.

  • News

    Publica faces early retirement costs

    27 March 2007

    SWITZERLAND – Publica, the CHF30bn (€18.5bn) pension fund for Swiss federal employees, may have trouble dealing with costs arisng from some of its members choosing early retirement, a Swiss news report has suggested.

  • News

    Swiss postal profits used to fund pensions

    26 March 2007

    SWITZERLAND – The Swiss postal service plans to transfer 40% of its CHF837m (€517m) in profits for 2006 to Pensionskasse Post, as the government did not fully capitalise the fund when it was launched.

  • News

    Bundestag passes G-REITs bill

    23 March 2007

    REAL ESTATE – Germany’s lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, has approved draft law legalising German real estate investments trusts (G-REITs) retroactively from 1 January.

  • News

    Pensionskassen head criticises BaFin regulation

    22 March 2007

    GERMANY – The current regulation of Pensionskassen is suppressing returns and making diversification difficult, according to Rainer Jakubowski, chief executive of €18bn Pensionskasse BVV.

  • News

    AGI posts Spezialfonds inflows, DekaBank outflows

    22 March 2007

    GERMANY – AGI, the German arm of Allianz Global Investors said inflows to its institutional funds (Spezialfonds) last year totalled €7.3bn. It added that almost 40% of the volume was pension money from corporates.

  • News

    Pension benefits raised for the first time since 2003

    21 March 2007

    GERMANY – The 20 million pensioners in Germany are to see their state benefit rise for the first time since 2003, according to social affairs minister Franz Müntefering.

  • News

    Sarasin poaches Varnholt from Credit Suisse

    20 March 2007

    SWITZERLAND – Bank Sarasin has recruited Burkhard Varnholt, head of financial products and the investment advisory team at Crédit Suisse Private Banking, as its new chief investment officer and asset management head.

  • News

    German minister hints at concession on deferred compensation

    19 March 2007

    GERMANY – Social affairs minister Franz Müntefering says he’s willing to consider compensation for workers if the government ultimately abolishes a social tax exemption for deferred compensation.

  • News

    SSgA wins €1.9bn in new German business

    15 March 2007

    GERMANY – State Street Global Advisors’ German arm says it took in €1.9bn in new assets during 2006, around half of which came from new institutional clients, notably pension funds.

  • News

    Feri loses hedge fund specialists (UPDATED)

    14 March 2007

    GERMANY – FERI Institutional Advisors (FIA), the German investment consultant, has lost its entire hedge fund advisory team, as well as Werner Goricki, the head of the unit, it has emerged. Yesterday, IPE reported that FIA had lost Goricki and two members.

  • News

    Thomas Steffen elected new CEIOPS chair

    13 March 2007

    EUROPE – The Committee of European Insurance and Occupational Pension Supervisors (CEIOPS) has elected Thomas Steffen, Germany’s top insurance regulator, as its new chairman, effective from March 12.

  • News

    Feri loses hedge fund specialists

    13 March 2007

    GERMANY – Feri Institutional Advisors (FIA), the German investment consultant, has lost two hedge fund specialists. One of them, Werner Goricki, was a managing director with responsibility for hedge fund advising.

  • News

    Swiss fund steps up shareholder action

    12 March 2007

    SWITZERLAND – Bernische Pensionskasse (BPK), a CHF8.6bn (€5.3bn) pension fund, has become the latest Swiss institutional investor to demand better corporate governance at the nation’s biggest corporates.

  • News

    Allianz promotes Peters to board

    7 March 2007

    GERMANY – Allianz Global Investors’ German arm says it has promoted Michael Peters to its board where he will act as investment director. The promotion is with immediate effect.

  • News

    Morgan Stanley gets new European head

    7 March 2007

    EUROPE – James Dilworth, the former German head of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, has joined Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MSIM) in London as the latter’s new head for Europe, Middle East and Africa.

  • News

    IMF finds fault with Swiss pension controls

    6 March 2007

    SWITZERLAND – The International Monetary Fund has urged the Swiss government to centralise regulation of Swiss pension funds (Pensionskassen), noting that it would be an effective way of improving the current system.