News

NETHERLANDS - PGGM, the asset manager for health and welfare sector pension fund Pensioenfonds Zorg en Welzijn (PFZW), has entered into a risk sharing agreement with Standard Chartered Bank.

Including: US - Bush appoints three to PBGC advisory committee; UK - Cambridgeshire taps CAAM for European equities; AUSTRALIA - Watson Wyatt hires key adviser; US - LA police and fire $350m large cap mandate

GLOBAL - US regulatory changes impacting on corporate bonds could 'deal a blow' to pension schemes, Aon Consulting warns.

GLOBAL - Global investors' confidence dwindled this month by 6.8 points to 77.2, down from 84.0 in July, according to the State Street Global Markets' Confidence Index.

US - The majority of US pension plans do not use liability driven investment (LDI) criteria to assess investment performance, and support of the strategy is on the wane, according to research by RiverSource Investments.

UK - Half of institutional investors in the UK plan to increase their investment exposure to the Gulf region over the next three years, according to Lyxor Asset Management.

NORWAY - Norway needs to extend its pension reform to include public sector pensions if it is to address a financing gap in 2060, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has warned.

THE 2.4bn Cheshire Pension Fund has hired three fund managers to run an active bond mandate worth around £320m.

MOVES to enforce a 50pc member-nominated trustee requirement will push sponsors towards offloading defined benefit pension schemes, employers warn.

COMPANIES face a dramatic increase in workload following the introduction of personal accounts, Origen warns.