Asia

TAIWAN - The TWD515bn ($15bn) Labour Insurance Fund has outsourced its TWD14.8bn ($433m) domestic equity portfolio to six investment managers.

SINGAPORE - Northern Trust has been granted a Wholesale Banking License from the Singaporean authorities, allowing the firm to expand its operations in the region.

INDIA - The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) of India has said the Government could consider permitting investment in foreign markets at a later stage to increase the range of instruments and to spread risk.

JAPAN - Mellon Global Alternative Investments (MGAI) has received approval from the Central Bank of Ireland for the Mellon Nippon Absolute Fund, a Japanese hedge fund of funds.

INDIA - The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) of India has asked the Indian government to exempt pension schemes from tax completely to encourage the pension funds sector to grow over seven-fold to $88.3bn in 25 years.

SINGAPORE - Merrill Lynch Investment Managers (MLIM) has laid off 22 of the 30 employees in its Singapore group.

ASIA - The fall in South East Asian regional markets by nearly 45% in sterling terms over the past five years has proved a testing background for fund managers, according to the latest report by Standard & Poor's (S&P's).

INDIA - The India government should set up a regulatory authority for pension funds with specific functions for its proper growth, chairman of Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) of India, N. Rangachary, said.

ASIA/EUROPE - Swiss financial giant Credit Suisse Group has made additional elections to its international advisory board (IAB) in a bid to leverage activities in Asia and Germany.

ASIA PACIFIC - The first meeting of the Asian-Pacific regional International Network of Pension Regulators and Supervisors (INPRS) took place in Beijing, China last month.