News

ALMOST 50pc of pension schemes are now invested in hedge funds as overall equity allocations fell by more than six percentage points, latest research from Barings Asset Management reveals.

INCLUDING - UK - Paternoster secures Lasmo Pension Plan; UK - Grayling urges PM to activate pensions package; DFSA issues hedge fund code of practice; UK - Pension funds look east; UK - Actuary leaves Aon

US - The Pennsylvania State Employees' Retirement System (SERS) board has altered its investment portfolio to include allocations to collateralised loan obligations and emerging markets.

PUNTER SOUTHALL has appointed Kevin Burgess as a qualified actuary.

NEW ZEALAND - The government is to introduce changes to its KiwiSaver legislation to ensure fees charged by complying superannuation schemes are "not unreasonable".

US - Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama has his outlined plans to strengthen social security, in a roundtable with Las Vegas residents.

HONG KONG - Institutional investors at a recent Watson Wyatt Ideas Exchange seminar examining their investment beliefs in equity strategies gave 130/30 funds short shrift.

CANADA - Former Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli should be denounced for his lack of leadership in investigations into the force's pension fund scandal, according to the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee....

ASSOCIATED British Engineering is in negotiations with the trustees of its pension fund to conclude a settlement over the sections of the fund that are in wind up.

PENSIONSFIRST has launched a series of scheme-specific bonds to neutralise pension fund risks as an alternative to buyout.