Investment

The next government could pursue a mass bulk annuity exercise to insure the pension schemes of up to 800 quangos, Pension Corporation claims.

ITALY - Italian schemes are increasingly reviewing their asset allocation and looking to offer lifestyling arrangements to their members in the wake of the losses incurred during the crisis, Towers Watson managing consultant for Italy Fabio Carniol said....

The Association of Consulting Actuaries has blasted the three main political parties' pledges on pensions as "threadbare at best" and "positively damaging at worst".

US - The median pension fund for S&P 500 companies returned 16.2% in 2009, the highest level in five years, according to data by Wilshire Consulting.

When I wrote a story on the Lib Dem manifesto pledges on pensions, I hardly thought it would matter. They wouldn't win anyway.

SWITZERLAND - Banking group SYZ is set to acquire State Street Global Advisors' (SSgA) institutional Swiss fixed income activities.

NEW ZEALAND - The New Zealand superannuation fund has reported a strong performance for the first quarter of 2010, boosted by continued investor appetite for stocks worldwide.

NETHERLANDS/SOUTH AFRICA - APG, the investment arm of giant Dutch pension fund ABP, has committed US$250m to Pallinghurst, an investment company specialising in natural resources.

UK - Aviva has confirmed plans to close both the Aviva and RAC final salary schemes to future accruals.

Giovanni Legorano speaks to Robert Gardner, co-founder and co-chief executive at Redington. Gardner takes us through some of the issues and opportunities pension funds are dealing with in the current market environment: inflation, the evolution of liability...