Latest International Business News
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China plans to reduce states role in the economy
The country’s new prime minister, Li Keqiang, said this month that the central government would reduce the state’s role in economic ...
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Ferrari World Abu Dhabi to move to 7-day ops
"There's been a growing demand for a continuous entertainment offering and the appeal of Yas Island as a leisure destination is now even higher," said Andy Keeling, park manager, Ferrari World Abu ...
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International Retirement Scheme opens to UK Limited Companies
A new tax-efficient Pension Trust that allows UK Limited Companies to provide retirement packages for their employees who have responsibilities outside the UK has been launched by s615(6) Limited. The International Retirement Benefit Scheme had previously only been open to direct clients, but for the first time will be offered as a new international pensions solution, and can stand ...
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Landmark securities fraud settlement reached against Shell
The largest securities fraud settlement ever has been reached in Europe, with a Dutch appeals court ordering Royal Dutch Shell plc to begin the payment of $381million, plus interest, to a foundation representing a group of institutional investors from 17 European countries. Investors from Canada and Australia were also represented, and in total more than 150 institutional investors were ...
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Significant variations in European countries’ reactions to global downturn
European countries’ pension markets have experienced mixed reactions to the global crisis, although UK businesses are at a ‘severe competitive disadvantage’ in Europe due to weaknesses in private and state pension systems, says Aon Consulting. The employee risk and benefits management firm has produced a report detailing the state of the pensions markets in individual ...
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Swiss economy still suffering
The prospects for the Swiss economy have changed marginally in the latest Financial Market Test Switzerland, conducted by Credit Suisse in cooperation with the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW). The Credit Suisse ZEW indicator of economic expectations crawled up by a mere 0.6 points to the -57.1 mark, and 65.3 per cent of financial market experts forecast further deterioration ...
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Growing number of multinationals considering global policies
The number of multinationals that plan to implement global funding policies across all aspects of retirement plan management by 2010 has increased to 87 per cent, according to Mercer. The financial consultant’s Multinational Survey also shows that 85 per cent of multinationals will use some form of ‘global’ approach to set their investment objectives by 2010, and 61 per ...
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Global pension systems ‘tested on every level’
show that assets fell from around US$25trn to US$20trn, with the global pensions balance sheet also shrinking by around 29 per cent in 2008. The financial consultant says this reflects the combined effects of poor performing assets and lower government bond yields. ';While the ramifications of this global economic crisis will be played out for many years to come, the striking ...
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Recession looms for Swiss economy
The Swiss economy is set to slide into recession in 2009, predict experts at Credit Suisse. Switzerland’s real economy finally felt the full force of the financial crisis in late 2008. Previous to this, the country had held up considerably better than that of other industrialised nations, but economists fear that Switzerland’s gross domestic product (GDP) could decline by 0.6 ...
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SGAM sells London business
Societe Generale Asset Management (SGAM) has sold its London subsidiary (SGAM UK) to GLG Partners, Inc. SGAM UK currently manages $8.2bn worth of assets, equating to around 2.5 per cent of overall assets managed by SGAM. The transaction will see SGAM UK shares sold to GLG, and is expected to be finalised in the first half of 2009, subject to regulatory approval. GLG intends to ...
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Norway Global fund suffers 7.7 drop
Norway’s Government Pension Fund – Global recorded all-time low returns of -7.7 per cent in quarter three of 2008 (Q3 2008), 1.8 per cent lower than that on the benchmark portfolio defined by the Ministry of Finance, according to the latest quarterly report by Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM). NOK 128bn of transfers were made to the fund in the quarter, and at the end ...
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Liquidation shock provokes industry warning
The importance of pension fund trustees continuing to review the strength of their sponsoring employers is highlighted by a sharp rise in the number of insolvency events, according to Watson Wyatt. The financial consultant has looked at figures released by the Insolvency Service, which it said show there were 4,059 insolvent liquidations in quarter three of 2008 – a figure which is ...
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db x-trackers achieves massive global growth
The year 2008 represented a record growth in assets under management (AUM) for db x-trackers, Deutsche Bank’s exchange traded fund (ETF) platform, amongst all ETF providers globally. The past 21 months have brought db x-trackers up to the third largest ETF provider in Europe, and the sixth largest globally. Between the beginning of 2008 and 30 September 2008, db x-trackers’ ...
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Lowest asset growth among world top managers
The total assets under management among the world’s 500 largest fund managers grew by around nine per cent in 2007 to US$69.4trn, according to ...
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Launch of world’s fifth largest insurance company
Aviva Investors has officially launched, marking the creation of the world’s fifth largest insurance company. The company is investing to transform its asset management business over the coming years, which will significantly increase its contribution to the Aviva Group’s profit, and will become an ';investment powerhouse on a global scale';. The single business ...
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Sarkozy accusation leads to industry call for clarification
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has blamed the current financial turmoil on hedge funds. At the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday 23 September 2008, Sarkozy stated that an overhaul and more regulation are necessary for the global financial system. He also said it should become less opaque. Sarkozy called for a punishment to those responsible for the current crisis and alleged ...
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Swiss economy will neither boom nor bust
The Swiss economy is expected to neither boom nor go bust in 2009, according to economists at Credit Suisse. Thus far, the Swiss economy has proven to be robust, and although the current economic climate has had a negative impact on perception, it has had little reflection in the economic data. Economists say that the Swiss economy, despite seeing economic growth below its potential, will ...
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World pension assets grow to US$12 trn
, also showed that most major countries recorded increases in assets, and that the size of these assets has more than doubled over five years. ';The world’s largest pension funds continue to benefit from a high profile as global demographic challenges remain front of mind,'; commented Carl Hess, global head of investment consulting at Watson Wyatt. ';As a result ...
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Zurich Ireland outperforms market despite slump in new Life Insurance business
The Irish branch of Zurich (Eagle Star Life) has revealed that for the six months ending June 2008 it has outperformed the market, with Pensions Annual Premium new business of €47.4 million. The same period in 2007 saw figures of €42.8 million, 11 per cent less than the current situation. This outperformed the market average of zero per cent for regular premium business. ...
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First global sound practices guide for FOHFs
The world’s first global guide to sound practices for fund of hedge funds (FOHFs) managers is to be published by the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA) in early 2009. The guide is being developed by fund of funds practitioners, and will focus on areas including risk management, disclosure to investors, valuation, management of conflicts of interest and other ...
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SEI wins first industry-wide mandate
SEI has been selected as Fiduciary Manager by Dutch furniture industry pension fund Bpf Meubel in the company’s first industry-wide scheme appointment. The mandate win will see SEI managing €1.3bn of the total pension fund – which stands at €1.5bn – across a range of asset classes. SEI will manage the entire equity portfolio, the fixed income portfolio ...
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FI says pensions companies have a buffer for further turbulence
Pension and non-life insurance companies can withstand further fluctuations on the financial market, and thereby have a good capacity to fulfil their commitments to customers, according to Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority, Finansinspektionen (FI). Their traffic-light model for Q1 2008 shows that no company has received a red light, with the exception of the pension fund Prometheus. ...
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Fidelity International Real Estate Business expands into Germany
Fidelity International’s Real Estate Business is planning to expand into the Continental European market with the opening of a dedicated Fidelity Real Estate Business office in Munich. The new office, which is currently going through its regulatory notifications, will provide a strategic base for Fidelity’s director of European Real Estate, Keith Sutton. From here he will ...
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Swedish companies avoid the red
Swedish pension companies were given favourable evaluations by The Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority, Finansinspektionen (FI), in the Q2 2007 traffic light report. No insurance companies received a red light during that period, while pension companies as a whole – including life insurance companies and occupational pension funds – showed a larger margin to the red light ...
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Investment Trust Companies set for VAT windfall
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled in favour of the Association of Investment Companies (AIC) and JP Morgan Claverhouse Investment Trust in a decision which could lead to huge VAT rebates for Investment Trust Companies (ITCs) across the UK and could also have implications for pension funds. The AIC and JP Morgan Claverhouse brought the case to court based on the argument that ...
Latin America Focus
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Latin American unity plagued by tensions
Division and suspicion seem the order of the day in Latin America at present, negating any optimism that the countries of the region may one day move toward a regional integration model based on that of the EU.
Latin America has seen itself become heavily divided over the issue of whether to readmit Honduras to the Organization of American States (OAS) after the 2009 coup, with all the Central American states accepting the new government while big regional players like Brazil and Mexico insist that more must be done before they’ll recognize it. Meanwhile, President Alan Garcia of Peru has told Latin America news providers that there is a quiet arms race occurring in the region. In all, it seems that regional integration along the same lines as the EU remains a long way off at present. Read more
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