Italy

ITALY - The transition from defined benefit to defined contribution following the major pension reforms of the nineties will "dramatically reduce" the redistribution features of Italy's pension system, new research has found.

ITALY - The Italian pensions regulator, COVIP, is considering imposing a small levy on pension funds to raise additional revenue for its operating budget.

ITALY - Janus Capital Group has appointed Marco Grassi (pictured) sales director for Italy with a focus on tapping into southern Europe's institutional market.

ITALY - AXA Investment Managers Italia has appointed Antonio Gatta as institutional advisory manager, based in Milan.

ITALY - Fitch, the ratings agency, today warned that the Italian pension reforms were not "drastic enough" and would still not solve the problem of rapidly escalating fiscal costs.

ITALY/UK - ABN AMRO Mellon has landed a e1bn mandate to custody the non-domestic assets for Banco Desio Investment Management subsidiaries and affiliates.

ITALY - Progress in Italy´s private pension fund market is still slow despite having escaped relatively unscathed from turbulent investment markets and a series of domestic corporate scandals, according to a recently published report.

ITALY - A number of Italian contractual pension funds are looking at performance guarantees, as they begin to offer diversified investment strategies to their members for the first time.

ITALY - The Fondo Pensione Casalinghe has appointed RAS Asset Management and CDC IXIS Asset Management to run its e115m portfolio.

ITALY - The Autorità per l'energia elettrica e il gas, the Italian regulatory authority for electricity and gas is tendering for a manager to run an open pension fund for its employees.