Hermes Fund Managers Ltd has announced that it is to become a multi specialist asset manager by recruiting a global equities team. A team of six, led by Lode Devlaminck and John Chisholm, will join from Fortis, and will provide Hermes with the expertise to build a core active global equity business structured as a specialist investment partnership.

Morocco has signed the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Declaration on International Investment and Multinational Enterprises, joining 41 other countries in committing to support an open environment for international investors. The Declaration also encourages responsible investment by multinational companies as a means to promote prosperity and growth.

Algorithmics has strengthened its Solvency II solution for insurance companies with a new Curve Fitting capability, allowing clients to fit both parametric and non-parametric curves to a given set of liability values. This is simulated under a small number of joint stresses of underlying risk factors.

Lane Clark & Peacock LLP (LCP) has expanded its international network of partner firms to Spain and Latin America with Novaster, one of the largest independent pension actuarial and investment consultancies in Spain. The extension marks the fifth company to have joined LCP's international network in the last two years, following SPP Konsult (Sweden), LCP Netherlands, JP Actuary (Japan) and Premium Consulting (France).

Credit Suisse is to expand its Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) platform to Germany by listing 16 ETFs on the Deutsche Börse on 25 November 2009, subject to regulatory approval. The expansion into Germany represents the second country outside Switzerland where Credit Suisse's ETF product range is to be made available, with the launch of 17 ETFs in Italy last month.

Gatemore Capital Management has launched its London investment consultancy office, headed by actuary Mark Hodgson who joins from HSBC Actuaries where he was director of investment consulting. Gatemore Capital Management is a boutique investment consultancy based in New York City, which serves pension schemes and private clients.

Rothesay Life has completed a £370million buy-in of liabilities of the CDC Pension Scheme, the UK government-owned fund of funds which invests in private equity funds focused on emerging markets in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. The buy-in arrangements see the trustees retain the assets in the defined benefit (DB) scheme, providing collateral, and covers all scheme members. The collateral will be invested in a portfolio of corporate bonds from which the returns will be paid to Rothesay Life. Mercer arranged the transaction as investment adviser and broker to the Trustees.

Watson Wyatt has hit the one million mark for the number of pension scheme members it administers in the UK, with numbers more than doubling in the past five years. "This milestone is psychologically important as it underlines our commitment to the pensions administration market," commented Clive Witherington, head of business for Watson Wyatt's technology and administration solutions team. "Our success comes from both winning new clients and - perhaps more importantly - retaining existing ones."

MetLife Europe Limited is to increase the guarantee choice on its Retirement Portfolio following demand from advisers and clients. Investors will not be able to choose annual step-ups on income and capital guarantees with ten per cent growth potential or unlimited growth with step-ups every two and a half years, compared to the previous three-year step-ups.

Assureweb has announced that income protection provider Pioneer has launched its Pure Protection and Professional Income Protection products on www.assureweb.co.uk. The aim is to maximise the number of intermediaries who can access quotes for its range of policies. Nick Jones, brand and marketing manager at Pioneer, said: "We know that intermediaries like our products, both our strong growth over recent years and the feedback we receive tell us as much. But what we also know is that not all intermediaries have the easy access they would like."

FOUR Capital Partners Limited has announced that it has entered into an investment partnership with Sanlam International Investment Partners, with Sanlam taking an initial 29.9 per cent equity interest in the firm for an undisclosed sum. None of the equity from FOUR's executives will be sold, maintaining FOUR's position as a majority employee owned company. Sanlam is a division of the Sanlam Group, a listed South Africa financial services group. It has investment management capabilities in Southern Africa, the UK, Asia and India.

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