News

WATSON WYATT has restructured its manager research team in a bid to make its global methodology more consistent.

CYPRUS - Sodexo has re-appointed Hewitt Associates to provide actuarial and investment consulting and administration services to its retirement and medical funds in Cyprus.

CANADA - Public and private pension funds consider generating returns in the current environment to be the biggest problem facing retirement plans at the moment, a study by Fidelity Investments' institutional asset management arm has found.

ROMANIA - The current financial crisis does not endanger the funding of the private pensions market in Romania, the Comisia de Supraveghere a Sistemului de Pensii Private (CSSPP) has claimed.

UK - The British Broadcasting Corporation's (BBC) pension scheme has had £1bn (US$1.6bn) stripped from its value, with total assets reported to stand at £6.9bn.

MIDDLE EAST - BNY ConvergEx Group has appointed Motaz Ibrahim as vice president and head of product sales for BNY Global Transition Management in the Middle East.

NETHERLANDS - The country's two biggest pension funds have announced declines in their coverage ratios, with ABP required to draw up a recovery plan by the Dutch regulator after falling to 118%.

US - The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation has taken a substantial hit on investments in mortgage-backed securities, and its trust fund has lost at least $3bn in stock investments in the 11 months until the end of August, it has been revealed.

FRANCE - Crédit Agricole Structured Asset Management (CASAM) has announced the launch of 10 exchange traded funds (ETFs).

GLOBAL - By 2015, responsible investments (RI) will be a mainstream trend in asset management, representing a paradigm shift in the investment landscape, asset manager Robecco and consultants Booz & Co have claimed.