All articles by Robert Melia Watson – Page 7
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News
S&P warns UK of complacency over pensions
UK – The government’s projections about the long-term costs of state pension provision is overly optimistic, with a gradual build-up of debt related to retirement provision likely by 2050 if current policy remains unchanged, warns Standard & Poor’s (S&P) in its latest report on demographic changes.
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News
State Street to penetrate alternatives market
US – Boston-based banking and financial services company, State Street Corporation, has acquired New York-based alternative investment fund accounting and administration services firm, International Fund Services, signalling its intention to increase its presence in the alternative investment area.
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News
Equitable deals another blow to investors
UK – Troubled mutual life company, Equitable Life Assurance Society, has raised the early exit penalty for customers wishing to withdraw their pensions assets from it with-profits fund from 14% to 20%.
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News
Mefop and Russell Mellon to evaluate Italian funds
ITALY – Mefop, the Rome-based society established to promote the development of pension funds in Italy, has entered into a joint venture with Anglo-American performance measurement and research group, Russell Mellon Analytical Services to produce a complete evaluation of the players in the fledgling Italian supplementary pension fund market.
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News
Style Research hires Peter Hopkins from Baring AM
UK – London-based equity research and portfolio analysis firm, Style Research has appointed Peter Hopkins as a new partner in its London office.
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News
BGI employs Global Risk Management in SRI drive
UK- Barclays Global Investors has appointed risk management and research company Global Risk Management (GRM) to carry out social, ethical and environmental research on the European companies it invests in.
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News
Margins for UK and Ireland managers fall a third
UK/IRELAND – Fund managers in the UK and Ireland saw overall profit margins fall from 33% to 23% in 2001 following the shift from defined benefit to defined contribution and poor growth of the retail sector says PricewaterhouseCoopers’ latest annual survey of fund managers in the UK and Ireland.
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News
Pioneer hires Citigroup for e30bn custody mandate
US/LUXEMBOURG – Global financial services company, Pioneer Investments, has appointed Citigroup Global Securities Services as global custodian to its $30bn (€30.3bn) Luxembourg-domiciled mutual fund business.
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Features
Weathering the storm
After a period of relative stability, analysts are reporting renewed caution and uncertainty in Europe’s markets, brought on initially by the threat of terrorist attacks and war, and now by the WorldCom affair. “Quite frankly this is another accounting scandal that we could do without,” says Catherine Reilly, an economist ...
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News
With-profits AVCs outperform unit-linked funds
UK– With-profits AVCs (additional voluntary contributions) are performing considerably better than managed unit-linked funds, with all but one with-profits AVC funds over three, five and ten year periods reporting higher returns, according to research published by Watson Wyatt.
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News
Priamo looks for administration provider
ITALY– Priamo, the €30m industry wide pension fund for public transport workers in Italy, is looking for an administration and accounting services provider ahead of issuing a full RFP for investment managers for its assets.
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News
Jeffreys retires as S&P's head of European indices
UK/EUROPE– Peter Jeffreys is to retire from his position as managing director of Standard & Poor’s Index Services (Europe) at the end of this month. His replacement is expected to be announced shortly.
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News
UK council issues e1.1bn RFP in specialist switch
UK – The £775m (€1,119m) Worcestershire County Council pension fund is to issue a RFP next week to find managers for six new portfolios as it moves from balanced to specialist management.
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News
SWIP appoints de Bruijn from Shell pension fund
UK – Edinburgh-based asset management group, Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP), has appointed Jan de Bruijn as a senior fund manager to its Asia and merging markets team. De Bruijn will join SWIP in August.
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News
CLAM Spiders authorised for UK market
EUROPE/UK – The SPDR Europe 350 and SPDR Euro exchange traded funds (ETFs), the ETF range launched in a joint venture earlier this year between index provider Standard & Poor’s (S&P) and French investment management group, Crédit Lyonnais Asset Management, have been authorised for sale in the UK.
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News
EFR outlines benefits of single EU pensions market
EUROPE – The creation of a single market for pensions in Europe would create substantial benefits for consumers and encourage economic growth, says the European Financial Services Round Table (EFR), the pan-European association of financial services groups.
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News
Italian fund looks for administration provider
ITALY – The €25m Italian railways workers’ pension fund, Eurofer, is looking to appoint an administration and accounting services provider ahead of issuing a full RFP for the investment management of its assets.
