Regions

Global - ING has recommended that more Chinese companies introduce occupational pension plans for employees following the government awarded new corporate annuity licenses in early August, as part of its drive to develop its pension infrastructure.

U.S-The Department of Labor's Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) has announced an extension of the deadline for filing Form 5500 and Form 5500 EZ annual report/returns due to damages from the tornado in Campbell County, Wyoming.

Despite huge expectations hedge funds have failed to make a significant impact on the German market since regulation allowed them to operate from within the country.

GLOBAL -SEB Merchant Banking has signed an agreement with Russell/Mellon for quantitative analysis of managers in its soon to be launched currency multi-manager, FX Map.

EUROPE - Hedge fund of funds Optima Group Holdings is eyeing the European pension fund market and has hired Graham Martin (pictured) from Gartmore to head up its new London office as part of its bid to expand into Europe.

GLOBAL - The Bank of New York (BNY) has reached an agreement with Nordea which will see the two organisations provide global custody and other services to institutional clients in the Nordic and Baltic Sea areas.

GLOBAL - Watson Wyatt has lost two of its senior investment consultants to asset managers with the departure of Peter Eerdmans (pictured) and Peter Brackett.

LUXEMBOURG - T. Rowe Price Global Investment Services (GIS) has opened a new office in Luxembourg to more easily fulfil its substance and monitoring obligations under the UCITS III directives.

EUROPE - Mercer Investment Consulting has poached a consultant and manager researcher from Watson Wyatt as a member of its European manager research team.

SCANDINAVIA - Threadneedle Investments will target pension funds and other institutional investors in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland as part of a push to expand its business into the Nordics.