All articles by Robert Melia Watson – Page 13
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New French pension association goes public
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.
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US managers want more transparency from analysts
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.
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Only 6.6% Italians sign up to new pension funds
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.
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Fixage poaches Watson Wyatt's Deville
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.
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Hermes invests in new Osprey property fund
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 ...
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Warburg Pincus fund closes at e5.9bn
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.
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Equitable to sue former directors for up to e5bn
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 ...
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Essex fund seeks managers for e1.5bn
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.
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Riester products "bureaucratic and expensive"
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.
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Swiss pension funds show modest recovery in 2002
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.
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Morley loses head of institutional marketing
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 ...
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Yorkshire hands e900m to Schroders and Western
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.
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Punter Southall hires Forest-Jones from Aon
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.
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JP Morgan's Lowrie joins Newton IM
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.
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T Rowe and DAB Bank sign German distribution deal
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.
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French warm to Épargne Salariale pensions
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.
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Investec adds to London-based institutional team
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.
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Reform to Italy's closed pensions hits trouble
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 ...
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Italy's Laborfonds completes manager selection
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.
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Hüppi to resign as Zurich Financial Chairman
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.