Europe

EUROPE - A study of European retirement systems shows a wide range of pension provisions throughout the continent, says Allianz Global Investors.

EUROPE - European investors embraced passive management and de-risking strategies in 2008 following stock market downturn and a lack of faith in alternative asset classes.

UK - Auto-enrolment into workplace pensions will benefit 95% of the working population and 70% can expect to get back twice what they put in, the government has said.

DENMARK - The DKK355bn (US$61.3bn) ATP pension fund lost DKK17.8bn over 2008, due mainly to declining equity values, the fund has said.

DENMARK - The DKK24bn (US$4.14bn) Danish Pension Fund for Engineers (DIP) has sold its DKK487.5m commercial property portfolio to Aberdeen Property Investors (API).

UK - The National Association of Pension Funds has backed the UK government's strategy to issue more long-dated, indexed-linked gilts and has called for a range of distribution methods to be available to help meet pension funds needs.

UK - Sales of enhanced annuities rose by almost a third in 2008, Watson Wyatt says.

UK - The £3.7bn (US$5.25bn) Merseyside pension fund has gone out to tender for two unconstrained bond mandates worth a total of £320m.

Some 130/30 funds have failed to live up to expectation and as investors begin to look elsewhere for sources of alpha is the writing on the wall? Giovanni Legorano investigates

UK - Vanguard is set to launch a UK funds business in a bid to build a more integrated global asset management business.