News

SWEDEN - Actively managed Sweden funds fail to live up to expectations and are outperformed by passive index funds, according to the results of new research carried out by students at Uppsala University and reported by Affärsvärlden.

The Financial Services Authority's responsibilities for group personal pensions and stakeholder pensions should transfer to The Pensions Regulator, the National Association of Pension Funds says.

IRELAND - The levy imposed on pension funds to finance a plan to create 100,000 jobs over the next four years will not be increased or extended, the Government has pledged.

AUSTRALIA - The A$74.6bn ($81bn) Future Fund posted a return of 3.9% for the quarter ending 31 March, giving a return of 11.7% for the first nine months of the financial year.

AUSTRALIA - The proposed Budget for the 2011/2012 financial year saw widespread, if incremental, cuts and reforms to certain programmes and tax structures, together with and an expansion of jobs and health-related social programmes.

UK - The surplus of defined benefit schemes monitored by the Pension Protection Fund slipped from £45.5bn in March to £2.3bn last month.

NETHERLANDS - Pension fund manager APG is looking for an additional €100m ($144m) for its hedge fund seeding platform IMQubator, before closing it to new investors, and plans to launch a second seeder fund.

AUSTRALIA - The Government has signalled its desire to encourage superannuation fund and private sector investment in infrastructure projects in its 2011-2012 budget by proposing to remove tax impediments, reduce sovereign risk and increase transparency...

Bulk annuity buy-ins and buyouts are now a more popular solution than longevity risk hedging for trustees looking to de-risk, research by MetLife Assurance shows.

UK - Bulk annuity buy-ins and buyouts are now a more popular solution than longevity risk hedging for trustees looking to de-risk, research by MetLife Assurance shows.