Investment

Threadneedle has launched an absolute emerging market macro fund following demand from clients.

Global technology firm Smiths has agreed a 10-year funding plan for its two principal UK defined benefit pension schemes.

GLOBAL - Investor confidence fell in Europe and the US in September despite a rally in equities, research by State Street Global Markets (SSGM) shows.

US - The South Carolina public pension fund's plan to create a company to manage private-equity assets should be held up pending legislative and administrative review, according to a spokesman for state Treasurer Converse Chellis.

GLOBAL - Expectations for average total property returns are falling sharply around the globe as economic uncertainty, reduced access to financing and increased supply take their toll, research has warned.

IRELAND - Allied Irish Banks (AIB) has invested €12m ($16m) of pension scheme assets into a special purpose vehicle set up to recover toxic debt.

Expectations for average total property returns are falling sharply as economic uncertainty, reduced access to financing and increased supply take their toll, a bfinance survey reveals.

Nearly half of all European pension funds are imprecisely modelling their liability hedging portfolios, a new survey by EDHEC-Risk Institute finds.

Finance directors should shift de-risking up the boardroom agenda if they think it is important to the future of the company, MetLife says.

IRELAND - Ireland's defined-benefit pension schemes risk closure because they cannot meet the "draconian" minimum funding standard set by the Pensions Board, employers claim.