Regions

GLOBAL - Fortis Investments increased its assets under management by €16bn, or 15%, over the course of 2006 to end at €121bn.

GLOBAL - Pension fund demand for hedge fund indices is minimal and the advent of replicator funds could deal a death blow to them, some of the world's largest consultants have claimed.

EUROPE - The debate on the blurring of boundaries between asset managers and consultants over the issue of asset liability modelling (ALM) has intensified, with some consultants openly accussing asset managers of encroaching on their turf.

GERMANY - Union members within the German Federation (DGB) protested outside the Bundestag (parliament) today as the lower house passed a law raising the retirement age from 65 to 67 by a vast majority.

GLOBAL - Most of the Global Pensions 100 Panel shunned having risk shared between the employer and employee, with 71.8% of respondents saying pension funds should be entirely DB.

MALAYSIA — The government pension fund has purchased a further US$641m (32.8%) stake in Malaysian bank Rashid Hussain, making it the majority shareholder.

TAIWAN - Taiwan's US$3.4bn public sector pension fund will soon be open to stock market investment and foreign currency deposits after the recent pension bill set up a management commission to supervise its assets.

UK - The Pension Protection Fund (PPF) said it would be opposed to any possible merger between itself and the Pension Regulator.

EUROPE - Pension funds have welcomed the European Parliament's approval of the European Commission's shareholder voting rights directive, saying it will create opportunity and encourage more active participation.

SOUTH AFRICA - The South African parliament has called for tougher action on pension fund administrators who have swindled trustees out of an estimated R500m (US$67.5m).