Investment

US - United States Commodity Funds (USCF) has listed a short oil fund on NYSE Arca, as the price of oil declines.

UK - Trustees have been urged to halt moves towards passive equity funds and reconsider the benefits of active investing, Hewitt Associates said.

BRAZIL - Brazilian pension funds may sell as much as 70bn reais ($39 billion) of government bonds after falling interest rates led regulators to lift limits on investing in non fixed-income assets, according to SulAmerica Investimentos.

Trustees have been urged to halt moves towards passive equity funds and reconsider the benefits of active investing, Hewitt Associates says.

Balanced pooled funds have strengthened further in August 2009 with a median return of 6.0%, latest CAPS pooled pension fund performance results from BNY Mellon Asset Servicing reveal.

Swisscanto is set to offer specialist fixed income and global equity to UK pension schemes for the first time following an internal strategic review.

The latest Professional Pensions Conjecture debate - to be held on September 29 -will look at the key issues surrounding delegated consulting.

BRAZIL - The government of Brazil has lifted the limits on pension fund investments, allowing up to 70% of assets to be allocated to equities and backing exposure to international markets.

It's a good job that John Sergeant was only presenting last week's Scheme of the Year Awards and not judging them. He would have been slightly conflicted as he was a member of two of the winning schemes (no prizes for guessing which ones) and his wife...

The Association of Independent Financial Advisers has issued a stark warning to the Financial Services Authority over the "unintended consequences" of applying proposals in the RDR to the corporate pensions market.