News

AGGREGATE defined benefit funding levels fell from a surplus of £51bn in July to one of £27bn in August, latest data from The Pension Protection Fund reveals.

NORWAY - Folketrygdfondet, the manager for the Government Pension Fund - Norway, has issued a tender seeking external financial auditing services for the National Insurance Fund and the €13.3bn Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund.

The California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) and the California State Teachers' Retirement System (CalSTRS) will be forced to sell certain holdings linked to Iran, following a new bill passed by the state senate.

US - Ohio attorney general, Marc Dann, has attacked the Bush administration for failing to protect pension fund investors against consumer fraud.

BLACKROCK has bought DC Link in order to bring the administration of its full service defined contribution pension schemes in-house.

CURRENCY overlay managers achieved a median excess return of 0.78pc during the second quarter of 2007, latest statistics from BNY Mellon Asset Servicing reveal.

UK - BlackRock has acquired dc-Link in order to bring the administration of BlackRock's defined contribution (DC) pension schemes in-house.

AUSTRALIA - Russell Investment Group has won a mandate from the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Treasury to advise on its superannuation investment for the next five years.

UK - The Pensions Regulator has drafted guidance to clarify how it would approach corporate activity, such as mergers and acquisitions.

UK - The Lothian Pension Fund (LPF) has launched a search for an investment manager to run a £380m property mandate.