News

EUROPE - Investors have shown renewed confidence to private equity pushing fundraising by European private equity funds up by 18% in the second quarter, data by the European Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (EVCA) revealed.

UK - Union Unite has warned of a "pensions backlash" from thousands of IBM employees over plans to close its final salary pension schemes to future accrual.

UK - The Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) has paid £1.8m (US$2.9m) in bonuses to its investment staff despite its funding level dropping severely, according to its annual accounts.

US - Maurice "Hank" Greenberg, the former chief executive of American International Group (AIG), and five other defendants agreed to pay US$115m to settle a class action suit brought by three Ohio pension funds.

US - Trustees at the Fresno County Employees' Retirement Association (FCERA) have decided to axe the scheme's infrastructure investments in favour of boosting its commodities allocation.

AUSTRALIA - AMP Capital Investors voted on 473 resolutions in the first half of this year, the asset manager said in its biannual corporate governance report.

The Universities Superannuation Scheme has paid £1.8m in bonuses to its investment staff despite its funding level dropping severely, according to its annual accounts.

Some 60% of companies have responded to the downturn by freezing salary levels in the past year, Hewitt New Bridge Street research shows.

The Personal Accounts Delivery Authority is set to launch a myth busting programme to explain how the national pension saving scheme will work from 2012.

Nearly half of employers with defined benefit schemes still open to active members think they will close them to future accrual within three years, Watson Wyatt research reveals.