Regions

EUROPE - European pension funds are showing strong interest in increasing their allocation to inflation-protected bonds on the back of concern about the potential rise in global inflation from its current low levels, says Baring Asset Management (BAM)....

GLOBAL - AXA Investment Managers (AXA IM) and BNP Paribas are launching the first every commodity index ETF, due to be listed on the German Stock Exchange on May 17.

GLOBAL - JPMorgan Chase & Co. has combined its investor and issuer services capabilities forming a new global entity - JPMorgan Worldwide Securities Services.

GLOBAL - Pension funds are showing an increasing appetite for currency overlay and Japanese equity with a growing number of mandates being awarded to investment managers, Mercer Investment Consulting has found.

GLOBAL - Watson Wyatt & Company Holdings and UK-based alliance partner Watson Wyatt LLP have signed a definitive agreement to combine the two firms, bringing them closer to their goal of creating a global entity with estimated revenues of more than US$1.1bn....

EUROPE - STOXX has launched the first pan-European select dividend indexes, tracking the 30 highest dividend paying stocks relative to their respective home markets.

GLOBAL - New corporate governance ratings have been added to the FTSE ISS Corporate Governance Index (CGI) Series, created to assist investment managers in assessing and managing portfolio risk.

SOUTH AFRICA - RMB MultiManagers has appointed Florbela Yates as head of institutional marketing, South Africa, ahead of the launch of its institutional investment management services to the South African market, planned for this month.

EUROPE- The European Commission is seeking to become more involved in the setting of the convergence agenda between the US Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB).

GLOBAL - Barclays Global Investors (BGI) is planning to unveil a new global absolute return fund targeted at smaller pension funds and aimed at generating higher alpha.