Regions

EUROPE - The Eurozone has officially entered into recession, with two consecutive quarters of negative growth, according to France's National Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies (Insee).

SWEDEN - The SEK13.6bn (US$1.9bn) corporate pension fund Postens Pensionsstiftelse has increased its infrastructure and property investments by SEK259m since the end of last year, MandateWire has learnt.

GLOBAL - The US$700bn Emergency Economic Stabilization Act, approved by the US Senate last night, fails to address the fundamental economic problems of pension schemes, industry experts have said.

Including: JAPAN - Mitsubishi takes stake in Aberdeen; NORDICS - IAM opens Stockhom office; UK - BNY Mellon appoints head of client relationship; JAPAN - La Salle appoints new client service head; UK - AXA IM strengthens FoHF team; UK - Penfida appoints...

CANADA/US - A Canadian union has attacked the government over its silence on measures to protect pension fund savings and demanded action in the face of CAN$80bn (US$75.8bn) in losses since the end of March.

EUROPE - Fortis, the Dutch-Belgian bank that was partially nationalised earlier in the week, has dropped plans to form a partnership with Chinese bank and insurance company Ping An.

GLOBAL - The pensions industry is struggling to take in the consequences of the US Congress' failure to pass the controversial US$700bn bail-out plan, as markets across the world reacted negatively to the announcement.

EUROPE - European banking group Dexia has been forced to secure €6.4bn (US$9.15bn) of extra capital from governments, institutional investors and pension funds.

EUROPE - Commodities continue to be at the centre of the investment debate, while pension funds struggle to diversify their portfolio and include assets uncorrelated to the equities market.

ASIA - Demand for transition management services is expected to rocket as pension funds in the region increasingly include global investments in their portfolio.