News

US - Rhode Island's two public retirement schemes face large unfunded liabilities and should be reformed as son as possible in order to reduce costs, the state's public expenditure council (RIPEC) has said.

US - A class action has been filed on behalf of the Pension Fund for Hospital and Health Care Employees (Philadelphia and Vicinity) and a group of similar funds against Austin Capital Management, for alleged losses related to the Madoff case.

US - Electronic and technology company Sparton Corporation has announced it will freeze contributions into the firm's 401(k) plan.

AUSTRALIA - Pension fund managers must rebalance their foreign currency exposures more frequently and with closer attention to liquidity and market impacts, or else risk wide deviations from targets, Troy Rieck, General Manager Capital Markets, QIC, told...

GLOBAL - Aegon is set to scale back business at its institutional markets division based in Kentucky, in a quest to counter the effects of an expected net loss for the fourth quarter of 2008 of €1.2bn (US$1.5bn).

Transfer values have been rising steadily despite significant falls in scheme funding levels, Hargreaves Lansdown says.

US - The state of Indiana has passed a Bill requiring public pension schemes to divest from companies investing in state sponsors of terrorism.

US- The Fresno County Employees' Retirement Association, Calif. has trimmed its hedge fund of funds allocation by nearly four percentage points a mere six months after adding the asset class to its portfolio.

The Pension Protection Fund levy should be capped and the government act as guarantor, the National Association of Pension Funds says.

US- Consulting firm Mercer has announced plans to acquire US-based consulting firm Callan Associates, creating one of the largest consulting firms in the US.