Spain

SPAIN - Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Gestion (BBVA) has combined with Innovest Strategic Value Advisors to launch the first actively managed sustainability fund in Spain.

SPAIN - Spanish pension funds registered an average return of 2.3% for the first quarter of 2004 as compared to 8.1% for the entire year 2003.

SPAIN - The new Spanish pension fund for civil servants has shortlisted four investment managers to go through to the second stage of its selection process.

SPAIN - The IMF has urged the new Spanish government to place pension reform high on its policy agenda.

SPAIN - The new Spanish government of José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero (pictured) will face pressure to acknowledge the future deficits of the public pension system.

SPAIN - Innovest Strategic Value Advisors has opened a Spanish office in a bid to capitalise on the increasing demand for socially responsible investment (SRI) products from institutional investors.

SPAIN - Spanish company pension plans have established an industry association to represent their interests along the lines of the UK's National Association of Pension Funds.

SPAIN - Telefonica, the telecoms giant, has sold 11% of its pension fund manager, Fonditel, to two trade unions, reported Spanish newspaper, Expansion.

SPAIN - MTS Spain today has appointment of Pedro Schwartz as chairman.

SPAIN - If a sharp rise in Spanish pension spending between 2015 and 2020 is to be mitigated, a reform that makes the system actuarially neutral cannot be put off any longer, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.