All articles by Robert Melia Watson – Page 19
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Previvolo manager search enters second stage
ITALY – The selection process to find investment managers for Previvolo, the pension fund for pilots of Italy’s state carrier, Alitalia, has entered its second phase.
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DB membership drops 2 million in past decade
UK – There are two million fewer people in defined benefit occupational pension schemes now than a decade ago, and only 200,000 of these are likely to be in a defined contribution plan instead, says the Trades Union Congress (TUC) after analysing statistics published by the government actuary’s department.
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RBC wins e3.2bn Edinburgh custody mandate
UK/CANADA – Canadian custodian and securities provider, RBC Global Services, has been appointed by Edinburgh Fund Managers as global custodian to its international trusts, unit trusts and OEIC (Open Ended Investment Company) business worth a total $2.75bn (e3.2bn).
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LGT beefs up executive board
SWITZERLAND – Switzerland-based alternative investment firm, LGT Capital partners has expanded its executive team with the appointment of Maximilian Brönner and Tycho Sneyers to its executive board.
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Union slams abolition of dividend tax credits
UK – The leader of Amicus, the UK’s second largest trade union, Sir Ken Jackson, has called on the government to abolish what he calls its “£5bn a year tax raid on occupational pension schemes” by re-introducing tax credits on dividends.
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Cambridge appoints Deustche for €1.6bn custody
UK – The £1bn (€1.6bn) Cambridgeshire County Council Pension Scheme has appointed Deutsche Bank as global custodian for its assets. The mandate was awarded following a formal tender process. There is no outgoing global custodian as the appointment is for a new position in line with the pension fund’s strategy ...
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Royal London picks JP Morgan for €3.2bn custody
UK – Royal London Unit Trust Managers (RLUTM) has appointed JP Morgan Trustee & Depositary Company, the trustee and depositary arm of JP Morgan Investor Services, to provide trustee and custody services for their US$2.8bn (€3.2bn) UK unit trust business.
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UK actuaries push for pensions simplification
UK – There can be no half measures in the government’s response to the need for radical pension simplification, says the Association of Consulting Actuaries (ACA) in its response to the Pickering pension simplification paper.
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UK’s consulting actuaries elect new leader
UK – The Association of Consulting Actuaries (ACA) has elected Gordon Pollock, a word-wide partner with William M. Mercer, as its new chairman.
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FRS17 and MFR encourage ‘short-term thinking’
UK – FRS17 and the minimum funding requirement (MFR) do not show the ‘real’ risks inherent in defined benefit (DB) pension scheme funding, says employee benefits advisors, Gissings.
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SWIP bans soft commissions for pension clients
UK – Edinburgh based fund management group, Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP) has stopped soft commissioning, the ‘hidden’ brokerage charge, for its pension fund clients.
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AP7 bars 26 more groups from its portfolio
SWEDEN – The €2.6bn Seventh Swedish National Pension Fund, AP7, has sold its shares in 26 global companies, including CocaCola, General Motors, Unilever and BP Amoco, because it claims they “failed to satisfy the fund’s environmental and ethical requirements”.
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Pioneer and Rolo merging to create €36bn outfit
ITALY – Milan based asset management firms, Pioneer Investments and Rolo Pioneer are to merge, forming a fund management group with some €36bn under management, as well as a combined Luxembourg-based fund operation worth €32.5bn.
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Union to meet UK government to discuss DB closures
UK – The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is to meet the government to discuss the TUC’s concerns over the number of defined benefit (DB) schemes being closed.
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TUC praises proposed EU law for part time workers
UK/EUROPE – A Proposed EU directive giving temporary agency workers across Europe the same rights as full time employees has been welcomed by Britain’s Trades Union Congress (TUC), since more than half the EU’s agency workers are employed in the United Kingdom.
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Little replaces Groom as Mellon Global CEO
UK – Mellon Global Investments has appointed Jon Little as its new chief executive officer in place of Jon Groom, who is leaving the company for personal reasons.
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FIS adds Thompson to global equities team
UK – Friends, Ivory & Sime has appointed Mark Thompson as a fund manager to its global equities team in London. Thompson will have specific responsibility for researching global environmental technology companies.
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Ashcourt to launch property growth fund
UK – Ashcourt Asset Management is to launch the Residential Property Growth (RPG) fund in March, a real estate investment fund company that will purchase residential property throughout England and Wales.
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PMI picks Northern Trust for €13bn custody mandate
NETHERLANDS – The €13bn Dutch metal and electronic industries’ pension fund PMI-SVM has appointed Northern Trust as sole custodian.
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Commerzbank and Höfer launch pension fund company
GERMANY – Financial services group Commerzbank and investment consultancy Höfer Vorsorge-Management have set up PENSOR Pensionfonds AG, a joint venture pension fund company established in anticipation of the huge demand for occupational products that the Riester reforms will produce.
