News

UK - Consulting firm Watson Wyatt Worldwide has chosen Carl Hess to succeed Roger Urwin as global head of investment consulting.

CAPITA HARTSHEAD has launched a investment consultancy practice to expand its services to schemes and trustees.

Pensions schemes favouring buy-outs; FTSE 100 pension buy-out expected; Friends Provident rebuffs Flowers £3.5bn bid; Northern Rock boss to get £760,000 payoff

UK - Pension funds' holdings in global equities plummeted for the eighth consecutive year in 2007, from 62.7% to 55.1%, according to BNY Mellon Asset Servicing.

AUSTRALIA - Superannuation fund associations have demanded clarity in company policies over market transparency and disclosure.

ITALY - Private bank Union Bancaire Privée (UBP) has invested in Aletti Gestielle Alternative (AGA), a fund of hedge funds provider in Italy with €3.6bn (US$5.7bn) in assets under management.

US - The development of a "terror-free" index will allow pension funds to measure the financial impacts of state legislation limiting investments in companies linked to countries such as Sudan.

The Pension Protection Fund has confirmed changes to the valuation assumptions used for pension scheme valuations under section 143 and section 179 of the Pensions Act 2004.

THE government has published a second set of draft Financial Assistance Scheme regulations.

US - Defined contribution (DC) plan sponsors in the US lack vital knowledge about fees, according to a survey by Chatham Partners.