News

US - The former chief executive of the California Public Employees' Retirement System has been accused of steering billions of dollars to politically connected firms.

The Financial Reporting Council wants to boost the strength of the UK Stewardship Code by monitoring the quality of communication between companies and shareholders.

The average worker saving into a defined contribution pension will be £10,000 a year worse off in retirement than those saving at the same rate in 2000, Alexander Forbes says.

Pension Corporation saw a £54m reduction in new business value last year due to quieter market conditions, preliminary results show.

The switch from RPI to CPI for pension indexation moved one step further in the legislative process yesterday after it was approved in the House of Lords.

CANADA - The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec has invested an additional C$800m ($813m) in Quebec-based companies and restructured its benchmark to give a greater weighting to local firms.

US - The Fresno County Employees Retirement Association has approved a new asset mix which increases allocations to international large-cap equities, emerging markets equities, TIPS and commodities.

NETHERLANDS - Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP, the largest Dutch pension fund, said its coverage ratio reached 109% at the end of February.

PERU - AFP Integra SA, manager of Peru's second-largest private pension fund, plans to increase investment in smaller mining companies as well as the consumer goods industry as growth in returns from Peruvian stocks slows.

JAPAN - Nomura predicts the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan will cut between 0.5% and 1% off the country's GDP next quarter.