All articles by Robert Melia Watson – Page 13

  • News

    New French pension association goes public

    2002-04-30T04:26:00Z

    FRANCE – A new pensions association designed to promote and protect the interests of pensioners and pension funds in France, Sauvegarde Retraites, has been established in Paris.

  • News

    US managers want more transparency from analysts

    2002-04-30T04:24:00Z

    US – Almost half of US portfolio managers want to direct more of their business to brokers that don’t have a conflict of interest between their research and investment banking operations, according to Connecticut-based consulting firm, Greenwich Associates.

  • News

    Only 6.6% Italians sign up to new pension funds

    2002-04-30T04:23:00Z

    ITALY – Only 6.6% of Italy’s 19.5 million workers have signed up to one of the country’s new complementary pension funds, according to Milan-based consultancy firm, IAMA Consulting, who says the figure falls way below the 20% forecast at the time of the Dini pensions reforms of 1995.

  • News

    Fixage poaches Watson Wyatt's Deville

    2002-04-29T05:48:00Z

    FRANCE – Richard Deville, director of employee benefits and investment consulting at Watson Wyatt in Paris, has left the company and joined rival Paris consultancy, Fixage, as head of its pensions and benefits practice.

  • News

    Hermes invests in new Osprey property fund

    2002-04-29T05:20:00Z

    UK – Hermes Property Asset Management and Bank of Scotland Corporate Banking are among the investors in the newly-established Osprey Limited Partnership, a high-yielding, commercial property fund with a target size of £300m (€485m). The fund starts life with an initial investment of £12m but the amount invested by Hermes ...

  • News

    Warburg Pincus fund closes at e5.9bn

    2002-04-29T05:09:00Z

    US/EUROPE Private equity firm Warburg Pincus has announced that its WP VIII fund has closed with assets of $5.3bn (€5.9bn), a figure it claims is a “considerable accomplishment” in light of the volatile economic climate and consolidating private equity market.

  • News

    Equitable to sue former directors for up to e5bn

    2002-04-29T04:59:00Z

    UK – Troubled assurance and fund management society Equitable Life is suing 15 former directors over its differential terminal bonus policy regarding guaranteed annuity rates. The net loss of the value to the society that Equitable is claiming is difficult to predict but the society says it could top £3bn ...

  • News

    Essex fund seeks managers for e1.5bn

    2002-04-29T04:59:00Z

    UK – The Essex County Council pension fund is looking for managers for £945m (€1,530m) of its £1.8bn assets, including a passive multi-asset equity and bond mandate worth some £620m and a predominantly UK fixed income mandate worth £140m.

  • News

    Riester products "bureaucratic and expensive"

    2002-04-25T04:38:00Z

    GERMANY – The new private Riester pension funds in Germany have made a disappointing start, according to an article in the Frankfurter Allgemeine. The average monthly contribution rate stands at just €16 opposed to €108 for the traditional insurance funds.

  • News

    Swiss pension funds show modest recovery in 2002

    2002-04-25T04:29:00Z

    SWITZERLAND – Swiss pension funds have shown a turnaround in fortunes in the first quarter of 2002, with the median manager in the InterSec balanced universe returning 1.1%, according to figures just issued by Zurich-based research group.

  • News

    Morley loses head of institutional marketing

    2002-04-25T04:21:00Z

    UK - Morley Fund Management has lost its head of institutional marketing, Mark Miller who has resigned “to take time out” before deciding the next step in his career. He will be replaced on in interim basis by Vicki Rhind, head of marketing and communications, although she says there ...

  • News

    Yorkshire hands e900m to Schroders and Western

    2002-04-24T05:20:00Z

    UK – The £865m (€1,407m) Yorkshire Electricity Group pension scheme has carried out a strategic asset allocation review that has led to the appointment of Schroders and Western Asset Management to run two new £280m (€455m) sterling fixed income mandates.

  • News

    Punter Southall hires Forest-Jones from Aon

    2002-04-24T05:15:00Z

    UK – Consulting actuaries firm, Punter Southall has appointed Graham Forest-Jones as group marketing director to its London office. The move follows the recent appointment of Graeme Muir as head of the group’s public sector pensions department.

  • News

    JP Morgan's Lowrie joins Newton IM

    2002-04-24T04:47:00Z

    UK – London-based Newton Investment Management has appointed Audrey Lowrie as a fund manager with responsibility for UK institutional equities and global multi-asset portfolios.

  • News

    T Rowe and DAB Bank sign German distribution deal

    2002-04-23T09:09:00Z

    GERMANY – Baltimore-based investment manager T. Rowe Price has signed a distribution deal with Munich-based DAB Bank to distribute the eight German sub-funds within its recently-launched Luxembourg SICAV range to private investors.

  • News

    French warm to Épargne Salariale pensions

    2002-04-23T05:27:00Z

    FRANCE – The Épargne Salariale market is fast becoming considered a principal source of retirement provision in France, according to the 2nd Baromètre Annuel de la Gestion de l’Épargne Salariale, the annual survey of occupational savings trends by JP Morgan Fleming, Hewitt and Interépargne Banque Populaire.

  • News

    Investec adds to London-based institutional team

    2002-04-23T05:18:00Z

    UK - Investec Asset Management has won three new mandates worth £218m (€355m) and announced two new senior appointments to its London-based institutional marketing team.

  • News

    Reform to Italy's closed pensions hits trouble

    2002-04-23T05:04:00Z

    ITALY - The pensions reform package to the closed pensions market in Italy has run into trouble and is unlikely to be passed, warns Roberto Casanova at Milan-based financial consultants IAMA Consulting. Were the package passed, IAMA predicts assets under management in the closed pension fund industry will grow ...

  • News

    Italy's Laborfonds completes manager selection

    2002-04-22T05:56:00Z

    ITALY - Laborfonds, the €100m complimentary pension fund for workers in Northern Italy, has appointed New York-based Alliance Capital to run its €10m US equity and fixed income portfolio.

  • News

    Hüppi to resign as Zurich Financial Chairman

    2002-04-22T05:24:00Z

    SWITZERLAND – Rolf Hüppi is to resign as chairman of Zurich-based Zurich Financial Services, following the company’s decision earlier this year to replace him as chief executive officer as a consequence of public criticism that the chairman and CEO of the company should be separate offices.