Mercer

SEBASTIAN CHEEK looks at the merits of using non market-capitalisation based indices for passive equity allocations and assesses if this is the best way to deal with concentration risk

US - Mercer has agreed to pay US$500m to settle a law suit brought by the Alaska Retirement Management Board alleging the actuarial firm erred when calculating the state's pension liability.

Towers Watson investment head says UK pension landscape is ‘littered' with small inefficient schemes

US/UK - Deficits for US and UK pension funds have rocketed over the past one to two months as schemes were hit by the double whammy of falling interest rates and dropping equity values.

The current investment governance model needs to be significantly improved, Mn Services says.

US - The defined benefit (DB) plans of US companies have improved their funding from 2008 lows, but still showed a funding gap of US$252bn at March 31 2010, a report from Mercer revealed.

The current refinancing gap for middle market companies created by banks' unwillingness to lend is providing mezzanine debt investment opportunities for schemes, Mercer says.

GLOBAL - The current refinancing gap for middle market companies created by banks' unwillingness to lend is providing mezzanine debt investment opportunities for schemes, Mercer said.

Australian funds have begun to look at currency following a period of uncertainty. Rachel Alembakis looks at what new strategies are being adopted

In the first of two features detailing the first meeting of our DC World Steering Club, Helen Morrissey asks how investment strategies are evolving