News

UK - The Pension Protection Fund (PPF) will soon inherit the liabilities of its predecessor, the Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS), without gaining any of its assets, Global Pensions has learned.

NETHERLANDS - The €10bn ($14bn) PGB pension fund for the Dutch printing industry has awarded Threadneedle with a €60m Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) mandate.

US - An examination of more than 3,333 US equity products has shown Russell Indexes to be the most used index provider among institutional investors, according to Nelson Information's database.

Including: US - Tremblant Capital hires new head of risk management; US - FRSGlobal opens New York office; US - BNY Mellon appoints new head of global product development; UK - Caution over FTSE 350 discount liabilities

AUSTRALIA - Watson Wyatt has appointed Hugh Dougherty as head of manager research and Michael Blayney as head of the Portfolio Construction Group (PCG) in Australia.

UK - The National Association of Pensions Funds (NAPF) has found many employers are unprepared for the introduction of Personal Accounts in 2012.

US - The Department of Labor, Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Congress and employers will need to work together to enable the much-needed implementation of phased retirement programmes, a senior consultant has claimed.

SCHEMES threatened with insurance style funding requirements under Solvency II proposals have been given a reprieve, Watson Wyatt says.

US - Reducing risk has overtaken increasing returns on assets as the greatest concern for pension scheme executives, a study by Towers Perrin has found.

EUROPE - A consultation paper published last week by the European Commission could represent a reprieve for UK companies sponsoring defined benefit (DB) schemes, to which insurance-style funding requirements might be applied, said Watson Wyatt.