Investment

GLOBAL - Linking retirement age to a mortality index would remove some political risk around increasing the length of time employees work, said Mercer's chief retirement strategist Bruce Rigby.

US - The California State Teachers' Retirement System (CalSTRS) has approved proposals to add a risk overlay strategy across its $146.4bn portfolio.

BNP Paribas will seek to double its total revenue in the next five years by aggressively developing its derivatives clearing service for buy-side clients, its chief executive says.

Investors benefitted from a 15.2% return on UK commercial property last year driven by solid performance from central London office space, according to the IPD UK Quarterly Property Index.

HONG KONG - The Mandatory Provident Fund has failed in its task to encourage additional savings, but pending legislation to encourage members to move their assets into other savings vehicles will do just that, said RCM.

US - The number of new mandates placed by US institutional investors increased 16% in 2010 with a sharp increase seen in specialist mandates like real assets, commodities and other alternatives.

The extra returns for holding shares over risk-free assets will fall by nearly one third from present levels, making a reliance on equities by pension funds "a pretty dangerous strategy", London Business School research warns.

Interest rate hedging increased 44% in the last three months of last year, driven by pension schemes rushing to capitalise on attractive market swap levels, a survey suggests.

Fidelity International has launched a workplace ISA in response to demand from its defined contribution clients and scheme members.

In the latest Conjecture debate, our panellists from Aberdeen Asset Management, Amundi, Fidelity, Nomura Asset Management discussed Emerging Markets.