News

GREECE - The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ordered an end to earlier retirement for Greek women that work in the public sector and found the Greek system did not offer sufficient support for the personal advancement of women in the workplace.

SWITZERLAND - More than 40% of Swiss pension funds have a coverage ratio of 100% or higher, despite the effects of the global recession, according to the Office féderal des assurances sociales (OFAS).

NORWAY - The Government Pension Fund - Global, one of the largest pension funds in the world, has ruled out investing in high yield and emerging market bonds for the foreseeable future, a government reports indicates.

UK/US- THE Local Authority Pension Fund Forum (LAPPF), which represents local government pension schemes, has called on its members to oppose the remuneration report of US asset manager T. Rowe Price.

US - Legal action against custodians related to securities lending activities has intensified as a US law firm announced an investigation into the activities of Northern Trust Company (NTC) and Northern Trust Investments, N.A. (NTI), State Street Bank...

US - ETF Advisor k, a US-based open architecture retirement plan provider, has unveiled an exchange-traded fund (ETF) based retirement plan in which investors own the ETF shares in their account.

The Pensions Trust has appointed Lynda Howe as chairman of its board of directors and Keith Nunn as deputy chairman.

RUSSIA - The Russian government will allocate an extra R600bn (US$17.9bn) for social needs, the bulk of which is intended for pension and other off-budget funds, said Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in his speech to the state Duma yesterday.

Firefighters' Pension Scheme guidance which allows brigades to sack disabled and badly injured firemen without a pension is unfair, the Court of Appeal has ruled.

ARGENTINA - Argentina's March tax collection increased by 23% year-on-year largely due to pension contributions, data from the country's Federal Tax Agency (AFIP) reveals.