JAPAN - Religare Enterprises hired a team from KBC Financial Products to tackle the Japanese asset management market.

ITALY - Italy's largest pension fund Fondo Cometa has appointed BNP Paribas as its new custodian for its €5bn (US$6.8bn) portfolio.

NETHERLANDS - APG, the asset management arm of Dutch civil service pension fund ABP, has dismissed two investment professionals for violating the company's code of conduct.

NETHERLANDS - Assets under management of Dutch pension funds increased by 3% during the fourth quarter of 2009 on the back of equity gains, data by the De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) revealed.

EUROPE/US - The European Commission has hit back at a letter by US Treasury secretary Tim Geithner warning the implementation of the hedge funds directive could cause a transatlantic rift by discriminating against US firms.

CHILE - Chile's Pension Reserve Fund (PRF) and the Economic and Social Stabilization Fund (ESSF) have returned on average 6.9% since their creation in 2006 to December 2009, ministry of finance Andrés Velasco revealed.

US - Former chief investment officer at the office of the New York State comptroller David Loglisci has pleaded guilty in the on-going investigation of pay-to-play kickback schemes at the New York State Common Retirement Fund (CRF).

KUWAIT -Kuwait Projects Company (KIPCO) has teamed up with Munich Re to launch pensions company Taka'Ud Savings & Pensions, which will tackle the Middle Eastern and North African pension market.

GLOBAL/EUROPE - The Institutional Limited Partners Association (ILPA) has criticised the Alternative Investment Fund Managers (AIFM) directive for reducing European Union institutional investors' access to private equity investments.

GLOBAL - Total assets under management by sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) grew to US$3.5trn over the past year in the wake of a recovery in global equities markets, a report by Preqin revealed.