News

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

Buy-out specialist approached over Prudential; SocGen unveils €5.5bn emergency fundraising; Bank of England likely to miss inflation target;

AUSTRALIA - The Brisbane Supreme Court has banned superannuation business Instep Super from operating and advertising because of misleading and deceptive conduct.

SELF-INVESTED personal pension and small self-administered scheme investors are looking to diversify away from mainstream commercial property funds and residential buy-to-let, Assetz Fund Management says.

Global Pensions asked a panel of experts to explain how the US subprime crisis had impacted on cash management and money market funds, and how pension funds could make better use of the asset class

US - The US Department of Labor has asked the Federal District Court in Texas to hold Hewitt Associates in civil contempt, claiming it wrongly dispursed settlement funds to Enron employees, causing a US$9.15m shortfall in funds.