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SWITZERLAND - Exclusive: Caisse de Pension Poste, the Sfr10bn (e6.5bn) pension scheme for Swiss postal workers, is to embark on a study of alternative and other specialist investments which could lead to managers searches next year.

SWITZERLAND - Confidence of Swiss pension funds showed a marked rise for the first quarter of 2003, in spite of a raft of bad news for the financial markets, according to Bearbull Gestion Institutionnelle's latest Confidence Index.

GERMANY - Commerzbank, Germany's third largest, is to hive off its Italian Asset Management unit by the end of June in a bid to streamline its troubled investment management business.

GERMANY - German institutional investors are set to almost double their private equity investments.

UK/SWITZERLAND - Financial solutions provider Brainpower has appointed Hammad Nasar as chief marketing officer and director.

GERMANY - Zurich Financial Services has appointed Eduard Thometzek as the new chief executive officer of Zurich Group Germany, effective July 1, 2003.

GERMANY - Commerzbank, Germany's third biggest, has teamed up with FTSE to create a new bond certificate open to both German institutional and retail investors.

SWITZERLAND/UK - J O Hambro Capital Management is targeting institutional investors in the UK and Switzerland with the launch of two new investment funds - a European mid-cap fund and a European blue-chip mid-cap fund.

SWITZERLAND - Swiss financial services giant UBS has beaten analyst expectations having posted posted better than expected first quarter results. UBS reported net profits of CHF1.21bn - an 11% decline on the first quarter a year earlier, but a 35% increase...

US/SWITZERLAND -Swiss large-cap value specialist Vontobel Asset Management is to enter into a tie-up with Denver-based Janus Capital Group as the latter looks to diversify after a drop in Q1 net profits.