NORWAY - Norges Bank Investment Management has funded seven new external mandates for the NOK1.5trn (e187.5bn) Government Pension Fund - Global - in the second quarter.

Dan Taylor has been made head of UK administration business at Premier Pensions Management.

Executive rewards fail to reflect performance; Equity market pulls hedge funds down; Rate rise expected; Lockton buys Alexander Forbes

THE £800m Clywd Pension Fund has gone out to tender for managers to one UK equity brief and two unconstrained mandates worth a total of £265m.

HEDGE funds outperformed equities but underperformed bonds in the second quarter of 2006, latest figures reveal.

SCOTTISH Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP) has achieved an single-A rating by Standard & Poor's fund services for both its UK opportunities fund and its emerging markets fund.

BALANCED pooled funds achieved a median return of 0.5pc in July 2006, latest CAPS figures from Mellon Analytical Solutions reveals.

STRICTER rules governing the management of scheme in-vestments would boost public confidence and "work wonders" for fund performance, lawyers claim.

UK - The £800m Clwyd Pension Fund is tendering UK core equity, global unconstrained equity and global unconstrained fixed income mandates worth approximately £265m.

US - The US$48.5bn Virginia Retirement System (VRS) achieved a 12.4% return on its investment portfolio for fiscal year 2006, comfortably beating its benchmark of 11.8%.