Regions

State Street has been appointed by ABP, the giant Dutch pension fund, to provide custodial and global securities lending services for ABP's US and Japanese assets, worth a total of US$21bn.

Edinburgh Fund Managers has appointed Alan Murray as a derivative fund manager.

Custodian KAS Associatie is targeting small and medium-sized UK pension funds in the first stage of its European expansion plans.

Deutsche Bank has launched a new emerging markets bond index, the Emerging Markets Liquid Eurobond Euro Index (EMLE Euro Index).

SEB Invest, the fund management arm of Swedish financial services group SEB, has shortlisted 3 candidates for briefs worth up to SKr12bn (EUR1.3bn) following the closure of the firm's Hong Kong and Tokyo offices.

Bill Price and William Thompson have been appointed as the first heads of investment at Allianz Dresdner Asset Management (ADAM), the new firm created by the merger of Allianz and Dresdner. The positions will be based in California.

Wisconsin's Supreme Court has dismissed a lawsuit brought about by unions, that sought to overturn a law that will increase pension payments for members of the $62bn Wisconsin Retirement System (WRS).

The $6.2bn Louisiana State Employees' Retirement Systems (LASERS) is looking for managers to run a $180m emerging market equity mandate.

Small companies in the UK offer better than average structural growth rates, according to Susannah Lloyd, fund manager of Baring Asset Management's (BAM) UK equity small-cap fund and Baring UK Smaller Companies Trust.

CalPERS, the $158bn California State Employees Retirement System is set to invest up to $400m in real estate, subject to approval from the fund's investment committee next week.