Regions

GLOBAL - European pension funds have backed a call in the US to scrap quarterly earnings guidance, claiming it fosters short termism.

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.

LUXEMBOURG - A government-appointed pension fund is set to launch a tender process for 14 managers, with combined mandates totalling almost e4bn.

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...

EUROPE - JPMorgan Asset Management is considering going head to head with DWS Investments in Germany by launching capital guarantee type products for the European market.

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.