News

NETHERLANDS - Mercer has appointed former PGGM head of alternative beta, Jelle Beenen, as head of investment strategy consulting in the Netherlands.

UK - The Atkins Pension Plan has shifted around 1,700 members to its defined contribution (DC) pension scheme after it closed two of its defined benefit (DB) sections to future accrual, according to MandateWire.

Elizabeth Pfeuti looks at hedge fund replication vehicles to see how they compare to the hedge funds they endeavour to copy and the funds of funds whose client base they wish to share

WORK and pensions secretary James Purnell is to launch a study into the impact of means-tested benefits on personal accounts.

GLOBAL - Pension funds with in-house investment management may have suffered more during recent market disarray than those schemes using external managers, research by leading industry figures has suggested.

Justin Pugsley explains how technological advances in the way international trade is financed could open up a new kind of short term investment for pension funds

NEW ZEALAND - Superannuation funds delivered negative returns for the fourth quarter of 2007, recording a median return of -1.7% for New Zealand investors, according to Mercer's latest survey of fund managers.

US - Kentucky Retirement Systems (KRS) have awarded two emerging market mandates in the first stage of their portfolio restructure.

THE aggregate deficit of the 7800 defined benefit schemes monitored by the Pension Protection Fund rose to £61.2bn in January 2008, latest figures reveal.

Specialist manager evaluation firm Inalytics uses quantitative processes to identify a quality previously thought unidentifiable - manager skill. Rachel Alembakis reports