Indices

AUSTRALIA - The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), in conjunction with the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), has issued a new Class Order that facilitates "intra-fund" superannuation member benefit transfers.

GLOBAL - Global real estate investment management firm CB Richard Ellis Investors has launched CBRE Global Real Estate Securities - an investment programme offering global securities investment and management services.

FRANCE - AXA Investment Managers (AXA IM) and BNP Paribas Asset Management have pooled forces to develop a new range of ETFs to be sold under the EasyETF brand.

GERMANY - The German government has removed a burdensome tax on investors in listed real estate companies and will allow them to claim a beneficial tax rate on dividends received from these companies in 2004.

EUROPE - Axa Investment Managers is to bring the first European real estate ETF (exchange traded fund) onto the Euronext Paris exchange next Thursday, 2 December.

GLOBAL - Turkish asset management firm Finans Portfoy and Dow Jones Indexes have launched Turkey's first exchange-traded fund.

UK - Bus, train and ferry operator Stagecoach Group risks a backlash from investors over targets for executive share options, corporate governance experts claim.

UK - HSBC is set to launch an Islamic pension fund aimed at Britain's two million Muslims, becoming the first UK bank to offer such a pension fund.

UK - Rail workers are set to strike unless Network Rail guarantees that the jobs, pay, and pension entitlements of 4000 workers will be protected.

UK - Global real estate posted returns of 6.2% in January 2004, as demonstrated by the European Public Real Estate Association/National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (EPRA/ NAREIT) Global Real Estate Index.