Global

CZECH REPUBLIC - The five pension reform proposals put forward by the main political parties have been declared by the OECD as a positive step towards a consensus on the matter, however each one could do with some improvement, the organisation noted....

GLOBAL - The Resolution Hexam Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) Absolute Return Fund was launched on Friday.

GLOBAL - Heavy outflows arising from the loss of lucrative pension fund contracts loom in the year ahead for F&C, which saw assets under management slide from £131bn at year-end 2005, to £107bn in the first half of 2006.

GLOBAL - Marsh & McLennan has vowed to address the "disappointing" performance of Mercer Human Resource Consulting.

EXCLUSIVE - Pension funds should allocate up to 30% of their portfolio to foreign exchange and view currency as an asset class similar to traditional assets such as equities and bonds, according to Deutsche Bank research exclusively revealed to Global...

GLOBAL - Barclays Global Investors' assets under management sprang up to US$1.6trn (£877bn) in the first half of 2006, from $1.4trn in the same period last year.

GLOBAL - Commission recapture can still add value to pension funds despite the fact there are probably better tools available, said George Bodine, director of trading at General Motors Asset Management.

GLOBAL - AXA Investment Managers has announced the first two additions to its currency management team as the firm seeks to bolster its presence in the increasingly-competitive currency arena.

GLOBAL - The sheer volume of money being pumped into hedge funds means they are essentially now mainstream investments, the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA) has claimed.

GLOBAL - T. Rowe Price Group posted net revenues of US$446m and net income of $136m for the second quarter of 2006, as assets under management reached $293.7bn.