If the eurozone were to break up, the most favourable option would be for Greece to leave, while a complete breakup would have the most severe consequences, according to SunGard

Global institutional pension fund assets in the 13 major markets grew by four per cent during 2011 despite pension fund balance sheets weakening according to Towers Watson

ABP will most likely be cutting pensions in payments and pension promises by 0.5 per cent from 1 April 2013, in order to improve the funding level by the end of 2013, the Dutch civil service pension fund has announced.

The possible pension cuts will depend on the financial position of the fund at the end of this year. The temporary rise in pension premiums of one per cent will rise to three per cent, which is applicable from 1 January 2012 until at least the end of 2013

Portuguese pension funds achieved an average return of two per cent in January, thanks to positive returns on bonds and equities, Mercer said

Investor confidence globally fell from 94.5 to 92.4 over the month of January, according to the State Street Investor Confidence Index

MSCI has announced the launch of the next-generation Barra Global Equity Model (GEM3).GEM3 incorporates extended coverage to 22 frontier markets, full daily updates, and the latest advances in risk methodology to help fund managers construct,manage and analyse global equity portfolios

All Dutch pension funds and insurance companies should be legally obliged to offer a ‘security pension’ as one of their product offerings, to give every employee the possibility of a secure pension, insurance company Aegon stated in a position paper to the government

Economic sentiment has risen by 1.2 points in the EU and by 0.6 points in the euro area, the European Commission’s latest indicators for January have revealed

The European Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (EVCA) has announced the appointment of Emma Thorpe as head of communications. She will be responsible for EVCA’s public relations and membership communications

Insurance group Aviva has announced the sale of Aviva Czech Life, Aviva Hungary Life and Aviva Romania Life & Pensions to MetLife, as it pursues its strategy of focusing on markets where it has “strength and scale”

Mercer has signed a definite agreement to acquire Norwegian-based investment and pension consulting firm Pensjon & Finans

Mercer has signed an agreement to acquire Pension & Finans subject to regulatory approval. The arrangement will give the existing clients of Pension & Finans access to Mercer’s broad range of services which include global investment consulting.

After having received 170 responses to their consultation on the review of the IORP Directive, the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) is planning quantative impact studies (QIS) for its ‘holistic balance sheet’ proposal, the association’s president Gabriel Bernardino said

Long-term European funds experienced outflows of more than €23bn in December and €119bn in 2011 according to a Morningstar research report

Northern Trust has appointed Olivier Noel as deputy managing director of its Luxembourg Management Company which provides fund administration services to clients. Noel will be responsible for product development and new business integration

Mail and logistics group Deutsche Post has confirmed it will appeal a European Commission ruling which would require it to return € 500m to € 1bn in state aid

Investors’ risk aversion has emerged as a clear theme in the European Association for Investors in Non-listed Real Estate Vehicles’ (INREV) latest investment intentions survey

Equity investors could potentially reap rewards from the eurozone crisis, the level of uncertainty over the US path to recovery and the inflationary outlook for emerging markets according to SKAGEN funds

Switzerland has made a balanced recovery from the financial crisis, but external factors are threatening the recovery for the near term, according to the OECD’s latest Economic Survey of Switzerland

Institutional investors are calling for a higher degree of overall risk management for their portfolios as more than a third (38 per cent) plan to increase target allocations in hedge funds over the next 12 months according to new findings by SEI

The Swiss fund market experienced net inflows in December driven by strong growth in assets placed in commodities funds, funds of hedge funds, and private equity funds, according to new statistics from the Swiss Funds Association

Proposals to apply a Solvency II-type regime to occupational pensions have been firmly rejected by the European Association of Paritarian Institutions (AEIP)

J.P. Morgan Asset Management has announced that Andy Lloyd has joined the firm as a senior institutional client adviser for the Nordic region. Lloyd will be responsible for continuing to build the company’s institutional presence in the region and joins from Alfred Berg/BNP Paribas Investment Partners where he was head of Nordic alternative sales and Danish institutional sales

The publication of revised guidance for defined benefit schemes in deficit has been delayed, the Irish Pensions Board has announced

Three of the five big Dutch pension funds will cut pension payments next year, if their financial position does not improve this year

New statistics have revealed that 55% of CFA Institute members in the European Union and Switzerland think that the introduction of stability bonds among euro area member states would alleviate the sovereign debt crisis

Threedneedle has launched the Threadneedle (Lux) European Absolute Alpha Fund. The fund will be invested in Pan-European equities and utilises the same successful process and resources as the Threadneedle Apex European Fund

Inflation in the euro area has fallen to 2.7% for December 2011 down from the 3.0% figure recorded in November, Eurostat has revealed

The implementation of a Financial Transactions Tax (FTT) levied across the European Union could increase transaction costs by up to 18 times in the foreign exchange (FX) markets according to a report from Oliver Wyman

No country will leave the eurozone this year and a fiscal union will be established within the next ten years, according to the majority of investment professionals responding to Aviva Investors’ latest survey

Threadneedle Investment announced today it is in the process of opening a new office in Stockholm, following the registration of its SICAV funds with Sweden’s regulator Finansinspektionen last year and a distribution agreement with Avanza Bank in October

The Credit Suisse Swiss Pension Fund Index posted a -0.56% return for the 2011 investment year despite rising by 3.12 points or 2.57% in Q4, new figures have revealed

Fidelity Worldwide Investment has appointed Dominic Herbert as a relationship director within its government institutions group. In his new role, Herbert will develop Fidelity’s business in Francophone and West Africa

Ucits funds registered decreased net outflows in November of € 9bn, down from net outflows of €30bn in October according to the latest Investment Fund Industry Fact Sheet published by the European Fund and Asset Management Association

Interest rates on the main refinancing operations, the marginal lending facility and the deposit facility will remain unchanged at 1.00, 1.75 and 0.25 per cent, respectively, following a meeting of the governing council of the European Central Bank today

The European Pensions Awards are now open for entries. With 25 categories spanning various fields of pension provision, interested parties have until 15 March 2012 to send in their submissions

The flight into bonds continued in the third quarter of 2011, as bond funds continued to see net inflows of €7bn while all other asset classes experienced net outflows, statistics by the European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA) revealed today

Most major European economies suffered another slowdown in economic activity for November, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) composite leading indicators (CLI) revealed

Investment funds and their investors, including people saving for retirement, should be excluded from a financial transactions tax (FTT), the German Association of Investment and Asset Management (BVI) said

Institutional investors have outlined their expectations on how companies should approach responding to the risks posed by climate change

Institutional investors should turn their attention towards adopting a ‘floating strategic asset allocation’ mind-set if they are to experience healthy returns this year, according to Mercer

Dutch regulator De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) has announced it will give pension funds the possibility to maximise proposed pension cuts at seven per cent, while it has also corrected the calculation of the interest rate at the end of 2011, on which pension funds’ liabilities are based

Societe Generale Securities Services has been mandated by Repsol, to provide administration services for Repsol’s international executive stock plan and to act as the agent bank and settlement provider for the employee stock plan

Economic Sentiment Indicators have declined by 0.8 points in the EU and by 0.5 points in the euro area according to the European Commission’s latest business and consumer survey results for December 2011

Inflation in the OECD area rose by 3.1% in the year to November 2011, slowing from 3.2% in the year to October 2011 according to the OECD’s latest consumer price index

LCH.Clearnet has appointed Lisa Rosen as group head of compliance and public affairs. Rosen will oversee the clearing house group’s regulatory and lobbying activities and help to mitigate systemic risk across a broad range of markets

Nearly three-quarters of European employers have cited an overly complex regulatory environment as the main factor in hampering the provision or expansion of occupational pension arrangements, according to a survey conducted by Aon Hewitt

European policy errors and inaction is the single largest source of systemic risk for 2012, Russell Investments has warned

Poor economic growth and a re-run of the 2008 crisis are just some of the problems set to wreak havoc in 2012, Hermes latest economic outlook has warned

Portuguese pension funds achieved an estimated return of 1.8 per cent in December, closing the year with an estimated return of -0.3 per cent, according to Mercer Portugal

The Pegaso Capital Strategic Trend Fund has been awarded an 'A' fund rating by S&P Capital IQ fund research. The fund is Cramer Asset Management’s multi-asset Sicav fund and aims to capture 70-75% of the upside in risky assets’ performance during an uptrend, while limiting losses to 20-25% of drawdowns.

2011 proved to be a relatively hectic year for the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA), established on 1st January as a result of reforms to the structure of financial supervision in the European Union initiated by the European Commission (EC)

In May 2011, pension administration and asset manager APG Group announced it had recorded a total return of 13.3% or €32bn for their Dutch pension fund clients in 2010. This year proved a more challenging year for Dutch pension funds, as funding ratios of several big schemes fell further

The European Federation for Retirement Provision (EFRP) supports the improvement of IORP governance and better communication of information to members and beneficiaries, the association announced today, in its finalised response to the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority’s (EIOPA) draft response to the European Commission’s Call for Advice on the review of the IORP directive

On 10 June 2011, the Dutch government and social partners signed a new pension contract, which will see the retirement age rise to 66 by 2020 and to 67 by 2025, while more risk is shifted to the members

The occupational pensions sector has not been as severely impacted by the current economic crisis as other financial industries, according to the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority

Traditional methods of stock picking are crucial if long-term investors are to continue to generate healthy returns in the current economic climate, according to First State Investments

In order to narrow the retirement gap in Germany, occupational pensions will have to make up about 25 to 30 per cent of people’s retirement income, according to the participants of the first Kronberger retirement provision discussion group, an initiative by Fidelity Worldwide Investment. It has suggested automatically enrolling employees into a pension

Euro area inflation remained stable at 3% in November with EU inflation also unchanged at 3.4% compared with October according to the latest figures from Eurostat

The European Commission has concluded that important progress is being made in strengthening Ireland’s economy, in its staff assessment following the fourth review of the EU and IMF-supported financial assistance programme for the country

The Swiss Funds Association (SFA) has added six new members to its Board of Directors and its Executive Board

One in five investors will reduce their private equity exposure to Europe because of the sovereign debt crisis, Coller Capital’s latest Global Private Equity Barometer has revealed

Maintaining and increasing their current standard of living into retirement is a top priority for 42 per cent of affluent European investors, but nonetheless they are facing a retirement with only 46 per cent of their current income, Schroders European Wealth Index found

Irish regulator The Pensions Board has launched a consultation into how defined contribution pension provision can be simplified

The current debt crisis enveloping Europe is likely to have lasting impacts on the hedge fund secondary market, according to a specialist alternatives broker

Pension fund managers remain positive about the diverse investment opportunities offered by frontier markets, despite the recent political turmoil and instability in the Middle East and North Africa, new research by Clear Path Analysis has found

Faster modernisation of the Russian economy is needed, with measures to tackle the country’s pension system a key consideration according to new reports from the OECD

At €30bn total net outflows of Ucits in October were lower than the €49bn in September, according to the latest Investment Fund Industry Fact Sheet by the European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA) published today

The Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change has called on policy makers to ensure the momentum towards a legally binding carbon reduction agreement is maintained, following last week’s talks in Durban

Michael Siciliano has been appointed as head of North American sales at Baring Asset Management. He has a wide range of experience in multi-asset strategy and international equity portfolios and joins Barings from Merganser Capital Management in Boston where he worked as director of sales

Liability-driven investing (LDI) strategies are increasingly popular among pension funds, the annual SEI Global Quick Poll has found. Of the surveyed pension executives, 63 per cent employ an LDI strategy, the highest outcome in the poll’s five year history, compared to 20 per cent in 2007

Dutch pension fund ABP has admitted their €47m investment in a Mozambique forestry project failed to meet its environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria, after a Dutch daily paper reported that the project had been involved in land-grabs and threatened the food security for locals

Concern over the eurozone debt crisis has significantly increased since the last quarter, with European equities subsequently falling out of favour with intermediaries, according to Barings Investment Barometer survey

Pension scheme members’ rights should be re-addressed in a paradigm shift in consumer protection, the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) stated today

Stock market valuations, and those of the companies that contribute to them have become too depressed, and investors should look beyond the headlines on the Eurozone crisis, Duncan Lawrie Private Bank said

Italy’s newly-announced plan to tackle debt through pension cuts and tax increases has been welcomed by OECD secretary general Angel Gurría

With average returns of 4.8 per cent during the period 2000-2010, Dutch pension funds have beaten the benchmark of 4.6 per cent, research by Dutch regulator De Nederlandsche Bank found

Investec Asset Management has launched the Investec Emerging Markets Multi-Asset Strategy which combines allocations to the company’s specialist EM debt and EM equity components in a single strategy

Dutch pension fund ABP will not give indexation to the pensions of active members and retirees in the government and education sectors in 2012, although the pension premium will remain unchanged. If the financial position of the fund does not improve, the board will have to decide which further measurements are necessary

Pension funds in Portugal returned an estimated average of -1.5% in November, based on estimates of profitability, lowering the average return of funds this year to -2.4%, Mercer Portugal revealed today

Saving for retirement with German Riester funds is worthwhile, according to CEO of the German Association for Investment and Asset Management BVI Thomas Richter, who has responded to criticism of the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) who found that life expectancy is overestimated in some Riester saving methods

Standard & Poor’s has cut its 2012 real GDP growth forecast for several European countries and is expecting another recession in Europe

Market volatility is the biggest perceived risk in the next 12 months according to institutional investors questioned for the latest biannual RiskMonitor survey from Allianz Global Investors. This was followed by sovereign debt and falling equity markets

Deutsche Bank and Omega Advisors have announced the planned launch of the UCITS compliant DB Platinum Omega fund on the bank’s UCITS platform in December 2011

UCITS witnessed net outflows of €83bn in the third quarter of 2011, compared to net inflows of €18bn in the second quarter, the European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA) revealed at its annual Investment Management Forum

The economic cost of a financial transaction tax (FTT) on financial institutions could be borne by end consumers, with the tax having a considerable impact on their long-term savings, the European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA) has warned

Despite the FTSE 100 Global companies having made record scheme contributions over the past year, their aggregate pension deficits rose by €120 billion, or 70 per cent, to €290bn, according to the European Pensions Briefing report published today by LCP

Economic sentiment has declined again with France experiencing the biggest decrease in economic confidence, latest figures from the European Commission have revealed

The European equity fund market has shrunk by 46 per cent since the end of 2007, according to a market update from Fitch Ratings

Decisive policies must be implemented urgently if the risk of contagion in the euro area is to be reduced, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) latest Economic Outlook report

The current financial crisis has resulted in a ‘tidal wave’ of legislation which could damage the European economy, the Investment Management Association (IMA) has warned

The Irish funds industry is now represented in Asia, following the industry association’s launch of new representative offices throughout the region

A fine of €500 has been imposed on Fire and Sound Systems Limited, after the company failed to remit employee pension contributions within the statutory period, leaving its employees uncovered for pension benefits, sick pay benefits or death in service benefits, the Irish Pensions Board has said

Emerging markets and US credit could perform well during 2012, according to Raymond Sagayam, manager of the Pictet Total Return-Kosmos Fund

European buyout firm Cinven has announced the completion of its acquisition of Guardian Financial Services, a provider of insured life and pensions business

Pressures to align the Institutions for Occupational Retirement Provision (IORP) directive with Solvency II (SII) into a one-size fits all solution to pan-European pensions will add further costs to European businesses and UK defined benefit pension provision, Mercer has warned

The life expectancy of Dutch newborns has increased sharply between 2000 and 2010, the Dutch office of national statistics (CBS) revealed today

Barings has announced the launch of the Baring India Fund. The primary investment universe of the fund will be Indian equities and equity-related securities of companies listed in India

Insurance linked securities offer diversification in an environment of increasing correlation across asset classes, as man-made and natural disasters are uncorrelated to financial risk factors, research by bfinance found

Chair of the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority Gabriel Bernadino has called on stakeholders to be open minded about the potential gains to be made from taking a Europe-wide approach to the review of the Institutions for Occupational Retirement Provision directive

Assets in German Riester funds have increased by almost 10 per cent to €8.1bn in the ongoing year, the German Investment and Asset Management Association (BVI) revealed

A court sentence of three months imposed on a construction company director for failing to remit employee pension contributions has been suspended to allow all outstanding payments to be made, The Pensions Board in Ireland has stated

The Czech Republic was exposed to the recent crisis through its export, but as it had no significant domestic imbalances the recession was relatively short, although the recovery is less dynamic than in other Eastern European economies, according the OECD

Gross domestic product (GDP) in the OECD area has risen by 0.6% in the third quarter of 2011, new figures released by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development have shown

Net outflows from UCITS funds more than doubled from €20bn in August to €49bn in September, the European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA) revealed today

State Street Corporation has announced that it has extended its 13 year relationship with Lufthansa German Airlines Group to include securities lending services for assets in multiple locations with total assets under custody of €9 billion

With a new calculation method, pension funds and insurers can estimate an individual’s life expectancy. The new method, based on postcodes, has been developed by Aon Hewitt and the consultancy firm has agreed on the use of the method with Dutch regulator De Nederlandsche Bank

Raising the retirement age will have a negative effect on the economy according to economist Jochen Mierau, who was awarded a PhD by the Dutch University of Groningen for his research

The eurozone crisis is not only slowing down growth in Western Europe, it also affects growth in Eastern Europe, East Capital said. According to Threadneedle, the only answer to the crisis is for the European Central Bank (ECB) to introduce quantative easing (QE)

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) composite leading indicators (CLIs) have pointed more strongly to slowdowns in all major economies for September

Dutch pension funds are going to report all the costs related to pension management and asset management to their members and other beneficiaries, with separate reporting on transaction costs of asset management, which the Pension Federation classified as a world’s first

The euro will not collapse despite current problems in the eurozone, according to 81% of 120 attendees of a recent Schroders Investment Conference, although 59% consider European structural problems as the most pressing global macroeconomic issue today, followed by US structural problems (22%).

The funding level of Dutch pension fund ABP has increased from 90 per cent at the end of September to 94 per cent at the end of October, boosted by increased interest rates

Dutch unions have banded together to introduce younger people to trusteeship. At present, only two per cent of all trustees in the Netherlands are below age 35

The ongoing banking and Eurozone crisis, contagion in terms of systemic risk, the global financial crisis, and credibility around policymakers and their ability to develop the right solutions will be the key themes affecting asset classes in 2012, according to ING Investment Management

Aviva Investors has appointed Catrinus van Willigen as managing director for the Benelux region. He will use his understanding of local investment needs and knowledge of business development to expand the company’s relationships with institutional investors and financial institutions

Moody’s Investors Service has proposed a new rating methodology for bond funds and is asking market participants to comment on the proposals

Cordea Savills, an international property fund manager, is reopening its Nordic Retail Fund (“The Fund”) to raise additional capital for further investment

Recovery plans for defined benefit schemes (DB) submitted to the Irish Pensions Board by midday on 16 December 2011 will continue to be considered under the current funding standard and guidance

Total European DC assets reached €1.6trn in 2009, or 39 per cent of total European pension assets, and Cerulli Associates estimated that the European DC market will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 10.8 per cent over the next five years, pushing assets to €2.8trn by 2015

Poor returns on fixed income investments is the primary worry amongst European institutional investors according to a survey by J.P. Morgan Asset Management

Around 70% of German investors are planning to keep their current asset allocation strategies even though average earnings rates on defined benefit (DB) assets have fallen by 0.3% from last year according to a survey conducted by Greenwich Associates

Greece, India, China and Thailand face the most severe pressures to reform their pension systems due to increasing sovereign debt, population ageing and relatively low pension coverage, according to the Pensions Sustainability Index (PSI) produced by Allianz Global Investors

In a new collective labour agreement, Dutch storage and shipping company Eurotank Amsterdam agreed to arrange that dock workers can retire at age 65, even after the increase in the state pension age to 66 in 2020

More companies should explore cross-border institutions for occupational retirement provision (IORP) opportunities in order to improve their pensions management in Europe, a white paper from Aegon Global Pensions has outlined

Moscow has been named Europe’s most attractive city for real estate investment in a new report by LaSalle Investment Management, taking over the first place position from London, which dropped to second place this year

The European Central Bank cut its main policy interest rate from 1.50 per cent to 1.25 per cent in an effort to boost market confidence and reduce the risk of a recession in the European Union. Industry figures have responded with little surprise and some say it has not gone far enough

First State Investments has launched the First State Emerging Markets Bond Fund, a UK ICVC available to investors in the UK and Europe

Aviva has weathered ‘exceptionally volatile’ financial markets so far this year and remains on track to meet its financial targets, according to results for the nine months released today

Switzerland’s federal pensions supervisory body, the Oberaufsichtskommission (OAK), has been strengthened following the addition of seven members to its board, whose duties will be to ensure that all Swiss pension schemes abide by the same rules. The pensions body will commence its supervision at the beginning of next year

The Portuguese pension fundsad an estimated return of 1.6 per cent in October, regaining profitability for the year to -0.5 per cent, Mercer Portugal announced today. The results are based on estimates of profitability

Consumer prices in the OECD area rose by 3.3% in the year to September 2011, compared with 3.2% in the year to August – the highest rate since October 2008, the OECD has revealed today

Threadneedle has appointed Neil Robson as fund manager in its global equities team and he will be lead manager on the Threadneedle (Lux) Global Focus Fund. Robson has over 20 years’ experience in global equities and joins from Martin Currie Investment Management where he worked as global portfolio manager

Annual inflation for the Euro area has been estimated to remain at 3% for the month of October, further complicating the European Central Bank’s (ECB) efforts in restoring a faltering and unstable economy according to current predictions from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union

Dutch social affairs minister Henk Kamp has opened up the road to a truly independent pension fund trustee board instead of trustees being appointed by employers and unions

The European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA) is nearing a complete European fund classification (EFC) structure

The Irish pension system should be redesigned to allow both public and private sector workers to provide for their retirement while maintaining exchequer savings in the area and to create a more equitable regime for savers, the Irish Association of Pension Funds (IAPF) has said

BNP Paribas Securities Services has unveiled an expanded range of market and financing services to support the needs of institutional investors and financial intermediaries

The Eurozone debt deal agreed today to help prevent the global economy from plunging into a severe and long lasting recession has sparked mixed reaction among leading European economists

A Eurozone debt deal has been struck this morning as European leaders in Brussels cemented a “three pronged agreement” in order to resolve the current financial crisis

State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) has announced the appointment of Hein Kuijpers as vice president and head of sales for the Benelux Intermediary Business Group. Kuijpers will be responsible for driving State Street’s client relationship within the Dutch, Belgian and Luxembourg markets

The viability of a harmonised system of pension funding rules across the European Union will depend on the outcomes of a quantitative impact assessment, which is essential for any legislative proposal, the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) has warned

Current compensation measures in the French pension system need to be simplified if inequalities in the level of funds between pension schemes are to be avoided according to the Conseil d’Orientation des Retraites (COR)

The Dutch pension industry is improving its responsible investment policy, but there is still work to be done, said the Dutch Association of Investors for Sustainable Investment (VBDO)

New research has revealed that 83% of senior executives representing UK corporates doubt the sufficiency of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) in securing confidence in Eurozone debt markets

The closure of defined benefit schemes, increasing administration costs and regulatory requirements are the main reasons for UK and European companies outsourcing pension scheme administration duties

Canadian-based Sarona Asset Management has opened an office in Amsterdam and appointed Vivina Berla as senior partner and European managing director

Depression remains the top extreme risk, followed by sovereign default and hyperinflation, according to Towers Watson

Dutch pension fund ABP's coverage ratio fell below 100 per cent over the last quarter, as falling interest rates sparked a jump in liabilities

Inflows to investment funds were up in the second quarter compared to the previous period, according to new statistics from the European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA)

The volume of assets placed in Swiss funds increased CHF 4bn to just under CHF 615bn in September, according to new statistics published by the Swiss Funds Association

Alternative investments may achieve better performance than a wide range of other asset classes but that does not mean they are immune to losses, the alternative investment council of the Swiss Funds Association has warned

Understanding of infrastructure as an asset class has increased markedly in recent years and Europe is offering some appealing opportunities in the area, a European Pensions roundtable has revealed

Top Irish companies were able to reduce their balance sheet liabilities by more than €2bn after implementing pension scheme benefit amendments, although the majority still have significant deficits, LCP Ireland said

Annual inflation for the Euro area was up both year-on-year and month-on-month in September, according to new figures from Eurostat for the European Commission

Outflows from all long term fund categories saw Ucits funds experience increased net outflows in August, according to new statistics from the European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA)

Emerging markets are not the “smaller, riskier siblings” of developed markets anymore and are playing an increasingly important role in global growth, RCM has informed

Frank McGrath Construction Limited and the company’s two directors, Frank McGrath and Jerry Murphy, will have to repay its pension scheme €50,554.00, after it lost a court case against The Pensions Board in Ireland on Tuesday

Consolidation will be the key factor for pension and insurance funds to overcome ongoing demographic pressures, a report by SimCorp StrategyLab has found

A construction company and its directors have been fined by The Pensions Board in Ireland for failing to comply with statutory requests made by the regulator

MSCI Inc. has announced the launch of a new tradable index, the MSCI EM 50 Index. The index will serve as the basis for numerous index-linked investment vehicles, providing investors with new ways to gain exposure to Emerging Markets

For the third year running the Dutch pension system was top of the list in the 2011 Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index, followed by Australia, Switzerland, Sweden and Canada

Patrick Chong has been appointed as head of financial institutions business development in Singapore at Aviva Investors. He will be responsible for the development and implementation of the firm’s business development strategy for the financial institutions sales channel in Singapore and Asia Pacific

The diversification benefits and outperformance of global smaller companies compared to other major asset classes is significantly underestimated, while the perceived risks are often overstated, according to Invesco Perpetual

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)’s Composite Lending Indicators (CLIs) have fallen by a further 0.5 points for the OECD area in August, highlighting a continued slowdown in economic activity

Institutional investors and pension funds may again turn to investment in commercial property as a ‘safe-haven’ despite the weak domestic economy meaning that returns from the asset class this year will be ‘unspectacular’, research from PRUPIM has found

Earnings growth will fall 7% for Europe and 3% for the US in 2012 as global equities, particularly financials and cyclical sectors, suffer during the third quarter, ING Investment Management said

Many Swiss pension funds did not achieve their target yields in 2010, according to Swisscanto’s study ‘Swiss Pension Funds 2011’

With an average return of -2.0%, Irish pension managed funds declined further during September

Negative performance of Portuguese pension funds continued in September, with new Mercer statistics showing the country’s funds generated negative returns for four consecutive months for the first time since 2005

Bluebay Asset Management has launched a Private Lending business designed to facilitate the flow of credit to small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in Europe

Italy’s government bond ratings have been downgraded to A2 from Aa2 with a ‘negative’ outlook by rating agency Moody’s. The move follows Standard & Poor’s cut of Italy’s credit rating last month from A+ to A

Jitzes Noorman has joined F&C Investments fiduciary management team in Amsterdam. He will oversee fiduciary management services provided to Dutch pension fund clients, covering strategic and tactical advice, portfolio construction and risk management

A new survey from sustainability think tank Eurosif has revealed 56% of corporate pension funds have a socially responsible investing (SRI) policy in place

Institutional investors are placing an increasing priority on risk management and stress testing, according to a new survey from MSCI

The Association of the Luxembourg Fund Industry has released its ambition paper, highlighting its aim for Luxembourg to be a global centre of excellence for the asset management industry

The European Commission this week announced plans to compel the financial sector to make a “fair contribution” to public finances via a tax on transactions of financial instruments where one party is located in the EU

Three in four affluent European investors said they have been negatively impacted by the economic instability of the last few years, with 21% concerned they will have to delay retirement and work longer than planned, according to new research by Schroders

The European Commission (EC) has requested that Slovak authorities end discriminatory practices in calculating migrant workers’ pensions

The European Commission’s (EC) plans to impose insurance-style solvency standards on defined benefit pension liabilities have been labelled a ‘terrible idea’ by the CBI with the UK Government being urged to resist these proposals

The European Commission has today presented a proposal which would see a tax on all transactions on financial instruments between financial institutions when at least one party to the transaction is located in the EU

The new Dutch pension agreement has become so complicated that it’s impossible to communicate to members, Towers Watson said

State Street Corporation has entered into an agreement to acquire Pulse Trading, a national brokerage firm offering a range of services to meet the demands of institutional investors

Two construction company directors have been sentenced with five months imprisonment each after an investigation by Ireland’s Pensions Board found them guilty of failing to remit pension contributions to the Construction Workers Pension Scheme

International Standard Asset Management (ISAM) has announced that Rupert Douglas has joined as head of European sales. Douglas will be responsible for developing and promoting the sales and marketing of the ISAM systematic to European institutions, distributors and consultants

FNV Bondgenoten and Abvakabo FNV, the two biggest Dutch unions, want to independently discuss the elaboration of the pension agreement with Social Affairs minister Henk Kamp, after having denounced their trust in umbrella organisation FNV’s chair Agnes Jongerius

BNP Paribas Securities Services has announced that it has been selected by the Singapore based asset manager, Lion Global Investors (LGI), to launch new UCIT funds to support the asset manager’s global fund distribution strategy

Global asset management firm SECOR has announced it is opening a UK office in order to expand its international capabilities

The term ‘emerging markets’ is inconsistent and vague and no longer does justice to the category of investments it is used to describe, according to the fixed income specialist arm of BNY Mellon

The difficult conditions which ruled markets in August saw the volume of assets placed in Swiss funds fall by 2 per cent, according to statistics from the Swiss Funds Association

Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s has cut Italy's government debt rating to A/A-1 from A+/A-1+, reflecting its view of the Italian economy’s “weakening growth prospects”

The Irish Pensions Board today published its strategy for 2011 to 2015, setting out a mission statement for the organisation and its objectives for the next five years

With 186 votes in favour and 155 against, a small majority of the board of Dutch umbrella organisation of unions FNV has accepted the new pension agreement

Sciens Fund of Funds Management Holdings, part of the Sciens Capital Management Group has announced the appointment of Stefan Mülheim as senior managing director and he will be responsible for institutional business development in German speaking Europe. Prior to this role, Mülheim was head of marketing at Bridge Asset Management in London

The European Fund and Asset Management Association has formulated a blueprint for a European consolidated tape (ECT), which aims to reduce both indirect and direct costs for investors and improve the quality of information on trading

ABP, the Netherlands’ largest pension fund, has appointed Henk Brouwer as the new chair of its board of trustees

State Street Corporation (NYSE:STT) has been appointed by Industriens Pensionsforsikring A/S (Industriens Pension) to provide investment analytics services for the fund’s private equity investments

A global hedge fund association has said the European Securities and Markets Authority’s proposals on the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive are “measured”, though several major areas of concern remain

The future of the Dutch Pensions Agreement between the government and social partners was called into question, as unions within the main representative organisation, the FNV Federation, remain divided on the proposed pension system reforms

The European Commission is expected to adopt proposals improving the financial terms for loans provided to Ireland and Portugal under the European Financial Stabilisation Mechanism

State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) has strengthened its Fundamental Equity team in Ireland with the appointment of Jeremy James as senior research analyst covering global financials. They have also appointed Mark Prentice as senior research analyst who will focus on financial statement analysis and corporate engagement

The Pensions Board has named its online data management system as the Interactive Scheme Information System (ISIS)

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)’s Composite Leading Indicators (CLIs) fell 0.5 points for the OECD area in July, indicating that slow economic growth across Europe is set to continue

Dutch pension fund manager APG has published its updated corporate governance and voting policy, setting out its approach to responsible ownership and how this translates into practice

Lowering fees may be an unavoidable move for many European active managers, according to a new publication from Cerulli Associates

New analysis from the OECD has shown economic recovery across the European Union is gaining pace, though is likely to be dampened by a range of factors

The Swiss National Bank (SNB) has moved to peg the franc to a minimum exchange rate of CHF 1.20 per euro, in order to stem the currency’s appreciation

The European Commission has welcomed Italy’s announcement of a revised austerity package, as the senate approaches a vote on the measures this evening

Inflation throughout the OECD rose in the year to July at a slightly higher rate than in the year to June, though the results were mixed across the European nations and the UK

Net inflows to Ucits funds fell in the second quarter, according to new statistics from the European Fund and Asset Management Association

Assets of the world’s 300 largest pension funds grew by 11% last year to a record high of US $12.5 trillion according to consultancy Towers Watson

Eurozone GDP growth will fall from 1.7% to 1.0% due to a combination of fiscal austerity, a lingering debt crisis and a slowdown in external demand, ING Investment Management said

Portuguese pension funds had an estimated return of -1.2% in August, based on estimates of profitability. These returns are the lowest since January, Mercer said

Karl Waltré has joined Mirae Asset Global Investments Group as head of the Nordic region. Waltré will take over responsibility for Mirae Asset’s existing clients in the Nordic region and will seek to develop new business in the wholesale and retail channels

Predicting life expectancy has proven very difficult and imprecise, but a new report by Swiss Re calls for a different approach to predicting future life expectancy by looking at the pattern of diseases that often cause premature death

The European Commission has poured cold water on claims that it is preparing to step in over Belgium’s political impasse

The demand/supply imbalance does not guarantee Shariah compliant funds will make money, according to Cerulli Associates

Economic sentiment has declined both in the EU and in the euro area, underlining European pessimism over the future of the economy, figures in the European Commission’s latest business and consumer survey have revealed

The German Riester-market has grown 6.8% in the last 12 months, with investment funds growing 6.4%, the German investment association Bundesverband Investment und Asset Management (BVI) has said

Nearly half of European investors believe equities will offer the most compelling investment returns over the next 12 months, according to MHP Communications’ annual survey of the pensions and investment industry

The UK has proposed to give financial aid to Royal Mail, as it struggles with diminishing revenues and a £8.4bn pension deficit, and has asked the European Commission for its approval based on the Rescuing and Restructuring Aid Guidelines

A “cathartic event” forcing policy makers to make tough decisions sooner rather than later would accelerate European economic recovery, Aladdin Capital Management’s chief economist has claimed

Matti Leppälä will succeed Chris Verhaegen as Secretary General at the European Federation of Retirement Provision in December 2011

European absolute return and multi-asset flexible funds have not performed well in the first three weeks of August and did not always sufficiently protect investors during the market volatility this month, Fitch Ratings said

France has the highest amount of assets held by insurance companies in the Eurozone, while Dutch pension funds have the most assets among European pension funds, recent data from Dutch regulator De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) has shown

KAS Bank has reported reduced revenue and profit for the first half of the year, citing lower volumes and prices in a “slightly improved” interest rate environment

The Dutch government needs to go further to improve the quality of trustee boards, regulator De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) said in a letter to the Ministry of Social Affairs

Japan has become the latest country to suffer a credit downgrade, with Moody’s dropping the country’s credit rating to Aa3 in response to its mounting debt problems

Despite the recent downgrade of US debt and the concerns surrounding its economy, there are still opportunities in US equities, according to ClearBridge Advisors

Adjustments to the Dutch pension agreement are not just wishes of the FNV unions, said the Christian Democrats and Labour Party today

Neuberger Berman has appointed Joseph Mukungu as senior vice president, head of client services for Europe and the Middle East. Mukungu will manage the team based in Europe responsible for servicing Neuberger Berman’s expanding client base outside the US.

Dutch pension scheme PME has lost its legal appeal against Dutch regulator De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB)

Under the present pension agreement 27% of company pension fund members bear investment risks, according to data from Dutch regulator De Nederlandsche Bank

The trend of increasing appetite for investing in emerging markets has continued, according to Baring Asset Management

The OECD area has seen less GDP growth in the second quarter of 2011, as growth slowed to 0.2% compared to 0.3% in the previous quarter

Investors are moving away from equities to more ‘safe’ assets such as bonds, despite their low yields, as a response to stock market volatility, financial experts have warned

After Finland’s collateral deal with Greece yesterday, four other member states have expressed interest in a similar agreement

Belgian pension funds have paid too much tax over their returns in the last ten years. While their actual returns were on average only 3% a year, the tax authorities assumed fictional annual returns of 4.75%

Since 1 June, European pensioners who have worked in the Netherlands during their career have lost up to €400 due to a new savings measure by the Dutch government

“Persistently difficult” market conditions are to blame for a fall in the volume of assets placed in Swiss funds in July, according to new statistics from the Swiss Funds Association

Friends Life’s international business has announced record first half sales, with Friends Provident International’s sales of £132 million, a 10% rise on the same period in 2010, while Lombard’s sales stood at £970 million

European investors are still cautious about growth prospects for developed markets but optimistic about emerging markets, according to Fitch Ratings' Q3 2011 European Senior Fixed Income Investor survey

New analysis of Greece’s austerity measures has revealed changes to pension arrangements are a mixed bag in terms of the distribution of the burden among the various income groups

Michael Dempsey has joined Mercer as head of its Investment Management business for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA)

Pension and investment associations across Europe have expressed different views on what they see as the future of cross-border pension provision, as the European Investment and Occupational Pension Association (EIOPA) closed its consultation on the IORP Directive yesterday

The corporate defined contribution (DC) market in Europe will grow by 11.5% a year to 2014, Cerulli has predicted

The Irish Tara Mines scheme might reduce its pensioners’ payments by 10% a year due to the introduction of a new government levy, trade union SIPTU said

The members of FNV Bondgenoten, the Netherlands’ biggest union, have voted against the new pension agreement. A majority of 96% voted against the agreement, with a turnout of 23%

The short-selling ban of financial stocks by France, Italy, Belgium and Spain has been met with disapproval by the investment industry

Cerulli has published its latest annual assessment of the distribution opportunities in the European fund marketplace, which looks at the largest opportunities for global fund managers as they consider the discretionary, advised, and retail markets

Share prices in Europe fell after rumours emerged that France could be in line to lose its top AAA credit rating, following Standard & Poor’s downgrading the US last week

The coverage ratio of the Netherlands’ biggest pension fund ABP fell with 6% to 106% in July. Due to the bad performance of the financial markets in August, ABP’s coverage ratio is currently below 100%

A majority of European investors expect lower inflows into European bond funds in the second half of 2011, according to Fitch Ratings' latest quarterly European fixed income investor survey

European commissioner for economic and monetary affairs Olli Rehn has argued heightened concerns around Greece’s economic situation, and dismissed recent market unrest associated with Italy and Spain as unwarranted

Last week’s decision by Standard & Poor’s (S&P) to downgrade the United States’ long-term sovereign credit rating from AAA to AA+ ended a harrowing week for Wall Street, and its impact has been felt today throughout global markets

Pension funds should ensure their investment policy matches the risk-bearing capacity of a fund’s specific features, like the financial position of a fund and the ratio between the number of active members and the number of pensioners, according to Dutch regulator De Nederlandsche Bank

The European Commission has announced it has opened an in-depth investigation into the planned merger between Deutsche Börse AG and NYSE Euronext Inc., after the initial market investigation indicated competition concerns in a number of areas

After the second bailout for Greece, markets have now turned their attention to Spain and Italy, said Tedd Scott, director of global strategy at F&C

Underlying economic trends in financial markets are continuing to deteriorate, therefore affecting market growth at a time when there is a particular focus on debt negotiations in Europe and the US, Baring Asset Management (Barings) has claimed

Almost half (49%) of Dutch citizens realise the importance of pensions, although 60% feel they are not involved in the discussion about the new pension agreement, while 48% have accepted this as they believe they cannot exercise any influence anyway, according to research by Motivaction

BNY Mellon has become the leading custody provider in Germany one year on from its acquisition of BHF Asset Servicing GmbH (BAS) and its affiliate Frankfurter Service Kapitalanlage-Gesellschaft mbH

Inflation in the OECD area rose by 3.1% in the year to June 2011, a slight drop compared with the 3.2% recorded in May and the first decrease in inflation since November 2010, the OECD said

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development has lauded Greece’s fiscal adjustment programme, including reform to the public pension system, though urged it is important to push ahead with further reform and limit the number of exemptions

Portuguese pension funds had average returns of -0.6% in July, mainly due to the bad performance of equities, according to Mercer

Moody’s Investors Services has announced it has placed Spain’s Aa2 government bond ratings on review for possible downgrade, due to the continued funding pressures facing the government and the challenges to its fiscal consolidation posed by the weak growth environment

Eleven new cross-border IORPs have been reported during the 12 month period from June 2010 to June 2011, an increase of 14% compared to the previous year, according to a report by EIOPA

Volatility and slow growth in the Eurozone will benefit emerging market economies, according to a report released by Mirae Asset Global Investments Group

A new report from the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority has suggested that a mix of individual choice and professional assistance is likely to deliver the best member outcomes in mitigating risk for defined contribution scheme members

The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) has published three new reports related to its work on occupational pensions

A new industry body designed to ensure efficient and secure distribution of investment funds to end investors has been launched today

A new report from a staff team of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has outlined the challenges facing the Dutch pension system in light of the recent international economic crisis and demographic changes, suggesting a series of measures to address the system’s issues

Investment in emerging market local debt will become increasingly popular with emerging market pension funds and OECD-based pension funds according to Baring Asset Management

Pension fund assets in most Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries have recovered to pre-crisis levels, though some countries are yet to recover from the 2008 losses, according to new statistics

Inflation in the Eurozone will be well above 2% in five years’ time, according to 36% of 52 large European institutional investors surveyed by ING Investment Management

Eurozone’s debt crisis is not to be blamed on the credit rating agencies (CRAs), says the Lords EU Economic and Financial Affairs and International Trade Sub-Committee in a new report entitled Sovereign Credit Ratings: Shooting the Messenger?

Spanish pension funds have had negative returns of 0.4% in June, mainly caused by losses in non-European equities. Despite the fallen return this month, the year to date return for Spanish funds is 1.0%, according to data by Mercer

The Eurozone summit has seen a new draft package of measures agreed to attempt to resolve the Greek debt crisis

Coverage ratios of big pension funds in the Netherlands have remained stable in the second quarter of 2011. Positive returns were slightly subdued by slight increases in liabilities, due to a small drop in the interest rate

Dutch civil service pension scheme ABP has released its second quarter operating statistics, revealing its coverage ratio remained at 112% in the three months to June – unchanged from the previous quarter

Concerns around debt problems in the eurozone pushed the volume of assets placed in investment funds down slightly in June, according to the Swiss Funds Association

All four participating Dutch banks performed well in the European Banking Authority’s stress test, according to de Nederlandsche Bank. In the stress test banks modelled the implications of a hypothetical stress scenario, to see whether they would be able to bear the ensuing losses

A new forum for smaller managers has been formed by the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA) to discuss topics such as regulatory matters, due diligence, interactions with service providers and business pressure around hedge funds

Russia is set to become an increasingly attractive market to investors over the next 18 months, according to Baring Asset Management

Research carried out by IFG has shown that many pension professionals believe Ireland’s incoming pension levy will result in widespread cuts in pension payments

There remain reasons to be optimistic on the European outlook, despite the continuing sovereign debt crisis, according to Franklin Templeton Investment Management

Euro area annual inflation remained stable at 2.7% over last month, while EU inflation fell to 3.1% according to new figures from Eurostat. At the same time last year, Euro area annual inflation was at 2.7%, while the May figure in 2010 was 1.5%. Monthly inflation was 0.0% in June 2011

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has suggested a range of measures Belgium could take to tackle its low effective retirement age in a new economic survey published today

Austria is not immune to the pressures of an ageing population, according to the latest study from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

Alternative assets held by pension funds globally increased by 16% in 2010 to $952 billion, according to research by Towers Watson

A new survey shows investors’ views of their countries’ economic outlook is directly correlated with the states’ austerity needs

No hedge fund firm today should be designated a “systemically important financial institution” by regulatory authorities, according to the Alternative Investment Management Association, the global hedge fund association

Sovereign risk is the main source of concern for the financial stability of the European occupational pension and insurance sectors, an updated report by the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) has found.

Recent droughts in Northern Europe and Africa have created good investment opportunities in the water sector, according to Simon Gottelier, investment manager of listed equities at Impax Asset Management

Improved governance and co-decision making is needed for Dutch trustee boards, according to Dutch Social Affairs minister Henk Kamp. He has proposed to offer pension funds three different board models to choose from

The crisis in the Eurozone might be resolved by dividing the Euro roughly across a north/south divide, believes SVM Asset Management’s managing director Colin McLean

JLT’s Antony Barker was announced as the winner of the Personality of the Year award at the European Pensions annual awards ceremony in London last week

The winners of this year's European Pensions Awards, now in its fourth year, were announced last night at a prestigious gala dinner at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane

Global assets under management (AUM) have reached $53 trillion at the end of 2010, according to Cerulli research. Total AUM is now back to where it was in 2007, after it dropped to $43 trillion in 2008-2009

The health of the euro remains a greater worry than the problems currently faced by Greece, according to managers surveyed by the Association of Investment Companies

The Swiss Funds Association has welcomed the introduction of the Key Investor Information Document, which will replace the simplified prospectuses supplied for UCITS publicly marketed in the EU from 1 July

Chinese equities are seen as having the strongest growth potential over the next 12 months by 52% of European investors, followed by global equities (45%), European equities (42%), gold (39%) and commodities (34%), according to a recent pan-European investor sentiment survey by Schroders

European institutional investors have increased their allocation to fixed income in 2010, while allocations to equities decreased and real estate maintained its position in investor portfolios, according to the eleventh edition of the European Institutional Asset Management Survey (EIAMS) by Invesco

Socially responsible investment has to deliver both sustainability and higher risk-adjusted returns if it is to thrive and become the strategy of choice, according to a new study by Swiss private bank Pictet & Cie

A critique on UCITS will be delivered at the annual GAIM hedge fund conference in Monaco tomorrow

Custodians are increasingly selected as preferred partners in fiduciary manager appointments, according to a study by institutional investment research provider Spence Johnson

Doubts about the new pension agreement in the Netherlands grow, as economists, pension experts and even the Regulator voice concerns about the robustness and sustainability of the proposed plans

Ireland’s Pensions Board has published its annual report and accounts for last year, revealing that both defined benefit and defined contribution schemes registered with the Board fell over 2010

TOBAM, the asset management company established in Paris, has recruited a new member to strengthen its distribution platform in the francophone region

The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) has announced outgoing secretary general of the European Federation for Retirement Provision Chris Verhaegen has been elected chair of the authority’s Occupational Pensions Stakeholder Group

The European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA) today announced that Claude Kremer was elected president of EFAMA for a two-year term. Christian Dargnat and Massimo Tosato were elected vice-presidents

Interest rate risk is perceived as the highest risk in the next 12 months by nearly 70% of European institutional investors, while 61% sees sovereign debt as a huge or considerable risk, according to Allianz Global Investors’ RiskMonitor survey

Annual inflation, measured as the price change between the current month and the same month of the previous year, fell in both the euro area and the European Union in May according to new statistics published by the statistical office of the European Union

FNV Bondgenoten, the biggest union in the Netherlands and a fierce opponent of the new pension agreement, has presented an alternative for the agreement

The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) could fundamentally change the way funds are distributed, and involve a long and costly implementation process for European investors according to the Association of Luxembourg Funds Industry

Climate change is considered to be a material risk or opportunity by a majority of investors according to a new report, though progress on the issue varies significantly between different regions

Product launches and other news in brief from the last couple of months

Dutch unions, employers and the Government have agreed upon a new pension contract, despite continuing resistance of the biggest union. The state pension age will go up to 66 in 2020 and to 67 in 2025, while the state pension will increase each year at 0.6% plus inflation from 2013 onwards

The European Commission has published 27 country-specific recommendations on economic growth and employment for each of its member states

Pension funds are being advised to exercise a “degree of caution” when approaching property market investments. Hatfield Philips International, which manages some £35 billion of commercial property loans across Europe, said that many pension funds have been increasingly significant investors in the commercial property sector

Dutch cross-border pension vehicles made possible by the implementation of the European directive for Institutions for Occupational Retirement Provision (IORP) can offer substantial cost savings to companies across borders, according to the Holland Financial Centre

Negotiations for a new pension contract in the Netherlands are drawing to a close, but despite several rumours about an agreement between unions, employers and the government, an official agreement has not been confirmed yet

Buyout as a de-risking option is gaining ground in Europe, following in the footsteps of the UK market which is leading the way

The costs of a restructuring of Greek debt in the near-term would far outweigh the benefits - both for the country and the Euro area, according to asset manager Schroders

An overwhelming 72.2% of Slovenians rejected the raising of the retirement age in a referendum on Sunday, leaving their Government in a difficult position to find a solution to control its public debt

Institutional investors can lower both standard and performance related management fees by about 5% by actively negotiating with their fund managers, bfinance said

A majority of institutional investors and corporate executives (86%) believe there are significant opportunities for growth in financial markets, but 58% think that there are major downside risks preventing them from taking advantage of those opportunities, according to a global survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit

The Irish Funds Industry Association and the IDA Ireland, the Irish Government’s inward investment agency, will open representative offices in the US and the UK

Investors should look to European equities, which are outperforming and have strong dividends, according to the manager of the JPMorgan European Investment Trust, Stephen Macklow-Smith

Natural resources equities offer considerable opportunities, despite the macroeconomic and environmental events that have dominated the news and challenged commodity markets this year, according to Schroders. This is being sustained by a supercycle of emerging market growth that is providing structural support to the sector

Dutch pension fund bpfBOUW saw returns of 10.0% over 2010, hedging included, with equities returning 18.9%, according to the fund’s year-end results

Lord Paul Myners has been appointed chair and partner of the UK operations of Cevian Capital, Europe’s largest active ownership fund manager

The Council of the European Union has today adopted the Alternative Investment Fund Managers directive introducing harmonised EU rules for entities engaged in the management of alternative investment funds, such as hedge funds and private equity firms

New legislation to regulate the trade in derivatives has progressed this week, with a vote by the European Parliament’s Economic Affairs

European investors remain relatively optimistic on the high-yield asset class, but less so than in the previous quarter, according to Fitch Ratings’ Q211 European Senior Fixed Income Investor Survey

UCITS funds recorded net inflows of €30 billion in the first quarter of this year up from €26 billion in the previous three months, according to the European Fund and Asset Management Association

In 2010, the APG Group has recorded a total return of 13.3% for pension funds, totalling €32 billion. After a sharp decrease in the funding ratios of the APG customers, they have recovered in the reported year, the pension fund manager said

Commodities will undergo another bull run once financial markets appreciate the threat of a global rise in inflation, Dighton Capital Management has claimed

Continuing pressure on the US Dollar and Euro did not dampen inflows to Swiss funds last month, according to the Swiss Funds Association

A Greek default is ‘highly likely’, and there is little sense in trying to solve the heavily indebted state’s problems with further borrowing and more austerity, according to Investec Asset Management

The average fund performance for Swiss pension funds was just 2.95%, compared to 10.3% in 2009, Swisscanto has revealed. This relatively poor performance was attributed to historically low interest rates and losses on investments in USD and EUR

Flows out of equity, bond, and money market funds saw UCITS experience net outflows of €9.4 billion in March, according to the latest European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA) statistics

The European Fund and Asset Management Association has published a report on the evolving investment strategies of UCITS, finding the current legislative framework is robust and provides strong retail investor protection

International plans for further development of renewable energy are only likely to be successful if policy provides incentives for investors to move towards less carbon intensive investment, according to chief of research and strategy with Danish pension fund ATP, Ole Beier Sørensen

A series of reforms carried out over the past two decades have halted the upward path of public pension expenditure in Italy, according to the most recent OECD economic survey of the nation

Central and Eastern European real estate markets are forecast to deliver the strongest medium-term returns on the back of 3% GDP growth, but a combination of bond rate movements, globalisation of capital flows and an increased development pipeline are expected to push some prime Western European yields outwards

The European Fund and Asset Management Association has published reports on governance standards and responsible investment, addressing what it considers to be key areas of the investment management industry

Many Germans are clueless about the build-up of their pension, a new study by Fidelity International has shown. The investment company said that despite all the initiatives to improve people’s pensions knowledge, most employees neither know how high their pension will be nor are they familiar with the three pillar pension system

Confidence in the ability of over-leveraged economies to reduce their debt is on the wane, according to the latest Barings Investment Barometer

Institutional investors are showing ongoing confidence in the Euro, with about 80% of respondents saying the Euro will survive under the current circumstances, whilst only 4% said it won’t, according to a survey conducted by Allianz Global Investors in 11 European countries

ING Investment Management is remaining overweight on agriculture, while reducing its position on energy from overweight to neutral, the company said in an investment view released today

European pension funds are more concerned about inflation than they were last year, and many are taking steps to protect their assets, according to a survey by consultancy firm Mercer

Earlier this month, the Polish president signed into law pension reforms which lower the proportion of an individual’s salary that can be paid into private pension funds from 7.3% to 2.3%

Principal Global Investors has announced a definitive agreement to acquire a majority stake in London-headquartered emerging markets investor Finisterre Capital

Estonia’s government should ensure contributions for the second pension pillar are higher in the near future, according to an OECD economic survey published today

Following the news earlier this week that many pension funds are not aware of their full asset management costs, the Dutch Government has demanded greater cost transparency, threatening with legislation to enforce it if this doesn’t happen quickly enough

Better cost control could increase pension assets, especially of smaller and medium-sized pension funds in the Netherlands, in the long term according to exploratory research by the Dutch Financial Markets Authority

Strong inflows into balanced and money market funds saw inflows into UCITS funds double month-on-month in February, according to the European Fund and Asset Management Association

Private sector investment in infrastructure has grown substantially in 2011, although challenges from direct investors may lead to consolidation in the sector, according to a survey by Deloitte into the investment plans of infrastructure fund managers

Sovereign debt concerns are misleading investors about the growth prospects for Europe, with institutional investors continuing to shun small and medium sized European equities despite the strong recovery of mature European economies, according to S. W. Mitchell Capital LLP

Norway’s Minister of Finance Sigbjørn Johnsen has delivered the annual report on the management of Norway’s Pension Fund Global to Parliament, stating the management of the fund has been “highly successful” so far and that the Ministry is “well satisfied” with the results achieved last year

Portugal’s application to the European Commission for a bailout should come as no surprise, and is in fact a relief to the market according to some industry observers

The decline in QROPS transfers is set to accelerate, due to the UK HM Treasury clampdown on the use of overseas pension schemes by individuals remaining in the UK and the introduction of flexible drawdown, SIPP provider A J Bell has predicted

The European Commission has asked Germany and Belgium to bring their pensions practises into line with EU law or risk being taken to the EU’s Court of Justice

The European Federation for Retirement Provision (EFRP) has labelled the Euro Plus Pact a missed opportunity to align the Stability and Growth Pact to longer time horizons

Stronger flows to hedge fund and absolute return strategies last year should increase during 2011, according to Fitch Ratings

Economic sentiment is stable in the EU, though has declined slightly in the euro area, according to the European Commission’s latest Business and Consumer Survey

Professional services firm Towers Watson has opened a new office in Turkey, establishing Towers Watson Danışmanlık Ltd. Şti as an Istanbul-headquartered subsidiary aiming to cater for what the company calls a large and rapidly-growing economy

The European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA) has announced it has seen corporate membership surge by around 20% over the last six months

Carlos Montalvo has been confirmed as the first executive director of the recently-established European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA)

Investing in the water sector could offer great opportunities, as the World Bank estimated that US$180 billion of water infrastructure investment is needed each year until 2030 to meet freshwater demand

Pension funds have increased their allocation to hedge funds from 3.6% to 6.6% between 2007 and 2011, according to the latest survey by research company Preqin

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development says recent increases to retirement ages in half of OECD countries are a step in the right direction, but will still not be enough to tackle future increased pension costs

Nikko Asset Management (Nikko AM) World Bank green bond funds have raised almost £400 million in its first year from institutional investors in Europe and the Middle East, as well as Japanese investors

Though long-term funds continued to attract net inflows, January saw a return to caution according to the European Fund and Asset Management Association

A new asset management company has launched, which aims to outperform local inflation and to preserve and grow purchasing power in the investors’ designated currency

Reports of confidence in German business hitting a recent high last month spell good news for European smaller companies, according to the manager of the Baring Europe Select Trust Nick Williams

Europe is still negotiating to find a solution to the European sovereign debt crisis, but this will inevitably end in a messy compromise that fails to resolve the peripheral solvency crisis and merely prolongs the agony until the next stage, said Stuart Thomson, chief economist at Ignis Asset Management

In late February the Czech government presented the first draft of its planned pension reform. Although opening up the discussion is a step in the right direction, the draft still leaves many questions unanswered, according to Erste Group

Results from the public consultation on the EU-wide pensions Green Paper highlighted the need for pension reforms to support sustainability of public finances and adequacy of pensions, with higher retirement ages a necessity

Attractive opportunities still exist in the Middle East and North Africa despite high profile unrest in the region, according to ING Investment Management

The Alternative Investment Management Association is calling on European Unions policymakers to take into account the economic impact of potential restrictions on credit default swaps in sovereign debt

Fund managers are bullish about the prospects for public equities and emerging markets in 2011, but have bearish views of nominal government bonds according to a survey of investment managers conducted by Towers Watson

The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority has selected Carlos Montalvo to become its first executive director

The recent unrest that is spreading across the Middle East and North Africa is far from benign and is set to deepen into ‘regional civil war’, according to David Murrin, CIO of Emergent Asset Management and author of Breaking the Code of History

The European Court of Justice Test-Achats case is expected to have substantial ramifications for UK pension schemes, including a possible further depression of annuity rates, according to Aries Pension & Insurance Systems

The total value of pension assets managed globally rose by an estimated 8% to $31.1 trillion in 2010, building on an 11% upturn in 2009, but have still to recover the high of $31.9 trillion reached in 2007, according to The Pensions Market report from TheCityUK

Twenty-four institutional investors led by Aviva Investors have written to 30 of the world’s largest stock exchanges asking that they address inadequate sustainability reporting by companies

Slovenia’s proposed pension reform “falls well short” of expected financing needs by 2060 and more comprehensive reform is needed to reduce the generosity of the pension system, according to a new OECD economic survey

The European Commission has announced it has decided to take Spain and Belgium to the European Court of Justice

Institutional investors in Sweden show a "marked preference" for the domestic market in their real estate investments, according to a survey by European Association for Investors in Non-listed Real Estate Vehicles

The Dutch government will hold a hearing about the investment policies of pension funds, after TV programme Zembla claimed that the funds have missed out on €145 billion due to bad investments

Continued delay in climate change policy action and a lack of international coordination could cost institutional investors trillions of dollars over the coming decades

The latest European Fund and Asset Management Association investment fund industry fact sheet shows December saw the highest net inflows into equity funds in Europe since the association started collecting monthly data

Asset managers expect growth over the next year to come from smaller Asian economies such as Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea, according to a study commissioned by RBC Capital Markets and conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit

A majority of investors expect a further decline of inflows into the fixed income asset class in 2011, according to Fitch Ratings’ latest quarterly European fixed income investor survey

European Federation for Retirement Provision secretary general Chris Verhaegen has delivered an address at the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, commending work on pensions so far while stressing ongoing industry concerns

Industrial data over the past few weeks have been unequivocally strong in the US, Northern Europe and Japan, according to Baring Asset Management. While there are still a few weak patches, Barings believes these are products of severe weather over the period, such as UK Q4 GDP figures and the latest US non-farm payrolls

Norway-headquartered specialist asset manager SKAGEN Funds has released its annual report, revealing ongoing confidence in global equity markets underpinned by strong company balance sheets, ‘modest’ valuations of emerging market equities, and increasing value in large multinationals

The total assets of Irish Qualifying Investor Funds (QIFs) grew by 35 per cent to €153 billion during 2010, according to figures just released from the Central Bank of Ireland

The European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA) has today released the FPP Portal Briefing to provide the industry with up-to-date information about the adoption of the Fund Processing Passport (FPP) standard in Europe. EFAMA intends to issue updated briefings with new developments on an ongoing basis

KAS Bank has launched a pension custodian service designed specifically for The Premium Pension Institution (PPI) - a new cross-border EU defined contribution pensions vehicle

The UK’s Investment Management Association (IMA) has called for consistent regulation across the retail market in Europe, as well as improved data in the wholesale markets, in response to the European Commission’s review of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID)

The European real estate market is likely to experience a “two-speed” market, reflecting the widening gap between investment hotspots and second-tier property markets, a survey by PwC and the Urban Land Institute (ULI) has predicted

The net asset value of Irish domiciled funds rose by nearly one third year-on-year, to reach an all time high of €963 billion at the end of 2010 according to the Irish Fund Industry Association

An EU proposal for the public disclosure of the net short positions of individual managers risks distorting financial markets an independent study by international management consulting firm Oliver Wyman has found

The European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA) has announced its full support for the Packaged Retail Investment Products initiative (PRIPs) in response to the European Commission consultation on the initiative

Institutional investor intentions over the short to medium term reveal a clear shift in target asset allocations from core to alternative investment classes, according to new research by bfinance

During a survey into the administration of Dutch pension insurance companies, different administrated amounts have been found compared to the actual pension rights

The Irish Government has launched its new initiative Green IFSC (International Financial Services Center), in a bid to replicate the success of the Irish funds industry

Dutch pension fund ABP ended 2010 with a coverage ratio of 105.4%, an increase of 11% compared to the third quarter, while the return on investment realised was 13.5% or €28 billion

The Spanish Government has announced its Council of Ministers has approved draft laws on social security reform, following reaching a principle agreement on the plans with unions and employers yesterday. The reforms incorporate a range of changes to pension arrangements

The latest quarterly international statistical release from the European Fund and Asset Management Association shows investment fund assets worldwide stood at €17.36 trillion at the end of September 2010, down slightly on the previous quarter’s €17.5tr

Further polarisation between Eurozone countries looks inevitable without reform, according to chief economist, global government and inflation bonds at Hermes Fund Managers Neil Williams

This year presents an attractive environment for active hedge fund managers, as 2011 will continue to be a macro-driven, volatile investment environment, according to fund of hedge funds Castle Alternative Invest

INREV, the European association for investors in non-listed real estate vehicles, has released its 2011 investment intentions survey showing Germany has overtaken the UK as the preferred location for investment in non-listed real estate funds

Buy-side institutions face significant gaps in being able to accommodate the derivatives regulatory requirements emerging in Europe and the US, a BNY Mellon survey of institutional investors has revealed

There is still a strong investment case for commodities as positive drivers currently outweigh the risks and this trend will continue into 2011, according to ING Investment Management

Private equity investors’ total exposure to funds-of-funds will fall over the next three years, but 81% plan to add new private equity relationships over the next two to three years, Coller Capital’s latest Global Private Equity Barometer has revealed.

Nordic investors will increase their allocations in equities and real estate, while decreasing their portion of bonds during 2011, a survey by Tell Media Group has revealed

The UK’s Investment Management Association is warning against adding too much detail to the Alternative Investment Fund Manager Directive, saying it could cause detriment to investors

European bank Nordea has revised up its 2011 economic outlook, in what it says will be a “transition year” with global growth below 2010 levels before showing renewed strength next year

The current environment of elevated prices for soft commodities offers some very attractive investment opportunities within the agricultural asset class for 2011, Jonathan Blake, manager of the Baring Global Agriculture Fund has claimed

Institutional investors are bolstering their commitment to hedge funds, but expect greater transparency and solid risk management infrastructures from managers, according to an annual global study released today by SEI and Greenwich Associates

The Alternative Investment Management Association has called on the European Securities and Markets Authority to take the diversity of the hedge fund sector into account when implementing the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive

The outlook for the European listed property market is the brightest is has been for four years, according to Thames River Capital

The UK Government has today published the Pensions Bill, which will implement measures in the Making Automatic Enrolment Work review and the Command Paper A sustainable State Pension: when the State Pension age will increase to 66

The "escalating debt crisis" in the Euro area reduced demand for bond funds over November and encouraged investors back to money market funds, according to the latest European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA) investment fund industry fact sheet

While strong corporate profitability and sustainable cash flows will enable equity and credit markets to make good returns during 2011, investors should prepare for further turbulence, according to Standard Life Investments

The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) has named Gabriel Bernardino as its first chairman

Risk management software provider Risk101 has launched a new risk management product into Europe and the UK, anticipating double digit growth in carbon trading as asset managers, hedge funds and pension funds increasingly invest in socially responsible and renewable energy securities

The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) has named its acting chairperson and announced the composition of its management board

Frontier markets could see annual growth of 11% over the next 10 years, Swiss & Global Asset Management has predicted, fuelled by relatively low stock market penetration compared to overall GDP, strong demographic profiles and economic prospects

Clearing house group LCH.Clearnet and pan-European equities exchange Chi-X Europe has launched the world’s first contract-for-difference (CFD) clearing service for institutional investors

State Street Global Advisors (SSgA), the investment management business of State Street Corporation, has completed its acquisition of Bank of Ireland Asset Management (BIAM), which was first announced in October 2010, for approximately €57 million inclusive of estimated net assets of the business of €14 million

Emerging markets will continue to enjoy robust growth driven by strong domestic demand and investments, Mirae Asset Global Investments Group has stated in its Emerging Markets Outlook in 2011 report

The bull run in commodities is set to continue for at least another five years, offering long-only investors better growth potential than any other asset class, Dighton Capital Management has claimed

The Eurozone is expected to continue its twin-speed recovery with core countries - particularly Germany - experiencing faster growth relative to peripheral Europe’s weaker growth, Pimco has claimed in its economic outlook for 2011

Mercer has completed its acquisition of Hammond Associates, the US-based investment consulting firm focused on endowment and foundation clients

Adapting to new regulatory requirements will be a key task for the financial services industry in the year ahead, according to global professional services firm PwC

The net assets of Romanian mandatory pension funds have reached €1bn and have posted an average return of 15.1% during 2010, outperforming inflation (CPI 8%) and retail deposit interest rates (7.7%), the Romanian Pension Funds' Association (APAPR) has announced

A report from Pyramis Global Advisors has found that executing timely asset allocation changes in response to changing market conditions is considered the largest challenge for the decade ahead by European and US pension plans

The European Federation for Retirement Provision (EFRP) has welcomed the Association of the Luxembourg Fund Industry (ALFI) as a full member

The UK’s Financial Services Authority (FSA) and Treasury have published a joint consultation paper setting out proposals for the implementation of the revised Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities Directive (UCITS IV)

Investors should stay away from Europe, as in 2011 there is a danger the Euro system will put too much pressure on weaker countries and economies, John Redwood, chairman of Evercore Pan-Asset Capital Management, has warned

Spain must reform its pension system, including an increase in the legal retirement age and restrictions to subsidised early withdrawal from the labour market, an OECD report has said

Investors are predicting what various asset classes have in store for the next 12 months, following the disappointment in 2010 of a slower than expected recovery and ‘double dip’ concerns

An Aviva survey of European investors with almost €280 billion in assets under management has found that almost 90 per cent are looking to increase their allocation to absolute return strategies over the next three years, the company says

The European Commission has published a new report analysing pension systems in the European Union, assessing reforms in light of the prevailing demographic challenges, ‘aggravated’ by the effects of the economic downturn

The Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC), the €6 trillion forum for collaboration on climate change for European investors, has welcomed the agreement reached at the Cancun climate talks as an essential step forward for the environment and the economy

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