All articles by Robert Melia Watson – Page 16
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Swiss funds fall 7.1% in 2001 but still outperform
SWITZERLAND – Swiss occupational pension fund returns remained positive for the third year running in 2001 despite turbulent markets according to the latest performance survey by Watson Wyatt and ASIP, the Swiss pension fund association.
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Robeco to acquire Transtrend in alternatives push
NETHERLANDS – Rotterdam-based asset management group Robeco is to acquire Transtrend, a hedge fund manager and futures trading company, as part of its strategy to expand into the alternative investment market, particularly in the area of single-manager hedge funds.
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IMA rounds on Myners and Kelly
UK – The Investment Management Association (IMA) has denied that a cosy relationship between fund mangers and brokers is penalising pension funds. In response to the allegations by Paul Myners and economic secretary Ruth Kelly at last week’s NAPF conference that the UK fund management community isn’t doing enough to ...
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Hermes appoints business development manager
UK – Hermes Focus Asset Management (HFAM), has appointed Corinna Arnold as business development manager international. Arnold, who will be based in London, will concentrate on co-ordinating international institutional support for HFAM in relation to its various shareholder engagement programmes, whereby HFAM invests in underperforming stocks.
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SEB names new head of investment management
SWEDEN – Stockholm-based SEB Asset Management has appointed Johan Magnusson as head of investment management, with effect from May.
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Russian pension fund reform delayed
RUSSIA - The draft law governing the investment strategy of Russia’s new state pension system has suffered a further setback with a row developing over the level of participation of the country’s private pension funds (PPFs).
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Managers could do more to change costs, say Mercer
UK – Many large fund management companies in the UK are not measuring their ability to obtain the best prices when buy and selling shares for their pension fund clients, says Piers Bertlin, European partner at consultancy firm William M Mercer.
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Mediafond issues RFP for its assets
ITALY – Mediafond, the supplementary pension fund for workers in Italy’s private radio, television and media sectors, has put out an RFP for managers for its assets.
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Watson Wyatt is as one of UK’s100 visionary firms
UK – Actuarial, investment and employee benefits consultancy, Watson Wyatt has been acclaimed a "visionary organisation" by the BT Vision 100 research and awards programme for 2002.
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Robeco restructures mid-caps to suit investors
NETHERLANDS – Rotterdam-based asset management group, Robeco, has amalgamated its Dutch and Euroland mid-cap funds and merged them into the Robeco European mid-caps fund to allow investors greater access to the Swiss and UK markets, Europe’s dominant mid-cap countries.
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Smaller UK companies not contributing to pensions
UK – The number of private sector companies offering pension provision in the UK fell by 5% between 1998 and 2000, though the proportion of employees actively contributing is more or less the same, according to the department of work and pension’s latest two-year survey on employers pension provision.
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First UK ETF to track S&P500 launched by iShares
UK - London-based exchange traded fund (ETF) specialists, iShares, is to launch its 13th fund, the iShares S&P 500, which it claims to be the first ETF available to UK investors that tracks a US index.
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Goldmans poach Langensjö from Wassum
UK/SCANDINAVIA – Goldman Sachs Asset Management has appointed Mats Langensjö as executive director in charge of its Scandinavian institutional business development.
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UK funds will not meet two year Myners deadline
UK - The issues surrounding the costs the UK pension fund industry pays its fund managers and the problems of shareholder activism, as highlighted by the Myners' review, will not be resolved by next March, the end of the two-year period the government gave the industry to comply with the ...
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Government figure for DB closures 'bogus'
UK - The government was today accused of complacency over its approach to the recent acceleration of defined benefit scheme closures in the UK. Speaking at the NAPF investment conference in Edinburgh, Colin Richardson, a partner with actuaries firm Barnett Waddingham, said that the government's official figure of 41 closures ...
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PGGM says funds should focus on TAA
UK/EUROPE - Pension funds need to start considering their tactical asset allocation rather than where they can get the best returns geographically, according to Roderick Munsters, chief financial officer for PGGM the e52bn Dutch fund for healthcare and social workers.
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UK government and ASB heading for FRS17 showdown
UK - The government and accounting standards board (ASB) are heading for conflict over the introduction of the FRS17 accounting standard. The warning came after the chairman of the ASB, Mary Keegan, gave a speech at the NAPF's investment conference in Edinburgh in support of the new accounting principle which ...
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NAPF introduces new code for greater transparency
UK- The National Association of Pension Funds and Investment Management Association have introduced a transactions code in direct response to the recommendation in the Myners review that pension funds should look more closely at the commissions and costs they pay.
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UK managers reluctant to drop soft commissions
UK – The Investment Management Association (IMA) and the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) have drawn up a pension fund disclosure code to be unveiled this week that will require fund managers to provide six-monthly reports on the way they invest UK pension scheme assets on stock markets.
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O’Kelley retires as State Street CFO
US - Ronald O’Kelley, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Boston-based State Street Corporation, has left the company for personal reasons. Stefan Gavell, executive vice president, will take over the role of CFO on an interim basis.
