News

Friends Provident has once again entered discussions with Resolution Limited after receiving a "sufficiently improved" bid from the Clive Cowdery-led acquisition vehicle.

The trustees of the East of England Co-operative Society's two defined benefit pension schemes - worth a total of £78m - have appointed SEI to provide an integrated fiduciary management strategy.

US - CalSTRS will allocate 5% of its portfolio to absolute return, increase alternatives and slash its equity allocation if proposed changes to its asset allocation mix are approved at an investment committee meeting next week.

GLOBAL - Art as an asset class has historically outperformed equities and deserves a place in any significant investment portfolio, a latest research published by Castlestone Management has claimed.

UK - Barclays could modify its plans to close its final salary scheme to future accruals in a bid to address the concerns of thousands of workers.

SPAIN - Assets under management of Spanish pension funds suffered a 3.75% year-on-year decline due to market performance and reduced members' contribution, data by the Inverco reveal.

SWITZERLAND - The circa CHF12.3bn (us$11.5bn) Pensionskasse Novartis is discussing the closure of its defined benefit structure in favour of a defined contribution arrangement. The board of trustees expects changes to happen as of January 1, 2011, MandateWire...

US - The funding status of S&P 1500 pension schemes dropped in July for the third month in a row on the back of falling AA corporate bond yields, Mercer said.

Barclays could modify its plans to close its final salary scheme to future accruals in a bid to address the concerns of thousands of workers.

Barclays responds to pension scheme protests; Taking the shine off pensions