Regions

EUROPE - Pension funds are likely to up their allocation to commodities this year as they look to diversify their portfolios and generate strong returns, says Diapason Commodities Management in Switzerland.

GLOBAL - Deutscher Investment Trust has begun selling in Germany its Allianz RCM ASIA PACIFIC fund, launched through Luxembourg in January.

SCANDINAVIA - The Nordic market is now a major player in private equity investment, according to a recent study of more than 100 institutional investors in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden.

THE NETHERLANDS - ABP is in the throes of planning a high alpha fund, which will invest in areas like Asian credit, distressed debt, or CDO mezzanine tranches.

EUROPE - INVESCO has rolled out a currency overlay product aimed at pension funds and other institutional clients.

EUROPE - RMB MultiManagers and Vienna-based consultants Absolute Return Consulting Gmbh (ARC) are launching a new structured product for institutional investors in Austria and Germany.

LUXEMBOURG - Actively managed equity funds domiciled in Luxembourg have increased in size over the last year and are showing a long-term trend of rising annual management fees, according to Fitzrovia.

GLOBAL - Many pension funds are "paying lip service" to corporate governance, Virginia Retirement System chair Alfonso Samper told the World Cup of Investment Management conference in Barcelona this week.

EUROPE - The Bank of New York has been appointed hedge fund administrator by the Kallista Credit Arbitrage Fund, a Cayman domiciled fund listed on the Irish stock exchange.

EUROPE - The European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) has backed the adoption of the amendments to IAS19 in its recommendation to the European Commission, even though it believes that these additional options "impair comparability".