Japan

JAPAN - DIAM, the largest Japanese pension fund manager, has scooped a European equities mandate from a Middle-Eastern client for approximately US$250m, and a €42m European equities deal from a German pension fund.

JAPAN - Global Pensions has discovered highly progressive proposals which argue the world's biggest pension fund should be split.

JAPAN - The Japanese government has been engaged in debate over a state investment fund to manage its US$909bn in FX reserves and improve long term returns.

JAPAN -The DIAM Group has beaten Barclays Global Investors (BGI) to become the largest Japanese pension fund manager.

JAPAN - The government has endorsed reform bills to integrate the civil servants' pension programme with the private sector workers' scheme.

JAPAN - Noboru Terada joins MSCI Barra as a senior advisor from the Japanese Government Pension Investment Fund.

JAPAN/CHINA - Japan's Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF) announced its intention to invest new money worth JPY11.8trn (US$100m) at the start of the new financial year.

JAPAN - Japanese institutional investors' allocation to private equity is set to triple within the next two to five years, Swiss private equity manager Adveqa has claimed.

US/JAPAN - Freezing defined benefits plans in the US and Japan and relying solely on a defined contribution plan fails to address risks, according to a working paper published by the Pension Research Council.

JAPAN - The average funding ratio for Japanese corporate pension plans has risen 31% in the last three years on the back of an improving economy and a rebound in domestic equity markets.