Pension and insurance funds cannot get enough of the private equity market, according to the results of our latest quarterly investor survey (see pages 14).

Almost half of respondents intend to increase their exposure to private equity over the next six months and not one plans to reduce its allocation to the sector, the study found.

I henhold til resultaterne af den seneste kvartalsundersøgelse af investorer kan pensions- og forsikringsfonde ikke få nok af det unoterede aktiemarked.

Uusimman neljännesvuosittaisen sijoitustutkimuksemme mukaan eläke- ja vakuutusrahastot eivät ole vielä saaneet tarpeeksi pääomasijoitusmarkkinoista.

Pensjons-og forsikringsfondene kan ikke få nok av ”private equity” markedet i følge resultatene fra vår siste kvartalsundersøkelse for investorer (se side 14).

Resultaten i vår senaste kvartalsvisa investerarenkät (se sidan 14) visar att pensions- och försäkringsfonder inte kan få nog av private equity-marknaden. Studien visar att närmare hälften av de som svarade vill öka sin exponering till private equity under de kommande sex månaderna, och inte en enda avser att minska sin allokering till sektorn.

The investment guidelines for Sweden’s national pension funds, the AP funds with assets in excess of SKr807bn (€87.3bn), will be scrutinised by the country’s ministry of finance because of a recent row over activist private equity investments.

Bank Pension, the Dkr11.4bn (€1.52bn) fund that covers Danish employees in the finance sector, is in the process of hiring a Los Angeles based manager to run a European equity mandate worth $10m (€7.8m).

Sweden’s Premium Pension System (PPM) fund range should be cut from 708 funds to just three simple risk-adjusted choices, according to plans proposed by the president of the AP7 state pension fund.

Hewitt Associates is to merge with Löneanalyser, one of Sweden’s leading compensation consultancies, to form Hewitt Löneanalyser.

After years of union negotiations and long delays, investment providers can at last bid for the assets of a new occupational pension plan in Sweden. In the future, contributions are expected to grow by SKr26bn (€2.8bn) per year.

Forca, the administration service recently launched by PKA; Lærernes Pension (LP); and the Early Childhood Teachers (PBU) fund is making plans to offer its services to other Danish pension funds.

VR Pension Fund, the €920m scheme for workers in the Finnish state railways, has reduced its number of external asset managers in a bid to increase efficiency and reduce management overlap.

Decreasing stock prices and increasing interest rates have taken their toll on Finnish pension funds over the first six months of 2006.

Denmark’s €12bn Sampension has appointed Hasse Jørgensen as its new finance director. Mr Jørgensen joins from the €27.2bn PFA Pension, where he was chief investment officer.

Farmakonomer has topped the performance tables for the second year running, while the architects’ fund has leap-frogged from forty-first position to third. Reeta Cevik examines the results of Kirstein Finans’ Life and Pensions study.

Premiepensionsmyndigheten (PPM), the SKr22.1bn (€2.4bn) Swedish Premium Pension System, has hired WassumRating and Standard and Poor’s to rank the approximately 700 funds housed within its national pension savings platform. The contracts will run until the end of 2009, but the agreements may be extended by a further 12 months.

The Norwegian ministry of finance has created a new asset management department in a bid to make the investment procedures of the NKr1,505bn (€184.9bn) Government Pension Fund “more efficient and sophisticated”.

Kredittilsynet, the Norwegian financial supervisory authority, has pushed the ministry of finance to adopt the prudent person principle for pension fund investments.

Iceland’s central bank must regain trust in the battle to beat inflation, argues the OECD in its latest review of the country’s economic fortunes. Stephen Bouvier reports.

Chris Newlands digests the results of the latest nrpn quarterly survey and finds equities and cash on the slide as investors eye opportunities in commodities, private equity and hedge funds.

Bank Pension’s 2005 performance was impressive, but recent market turbulence has meant that they have struggled in the first half of this year. However, this well-diversified yet conservative fund has no intention of initiating any radical shake-ups. Reeta Cevik reports.

With the consolidation of Iceland’s second-pillar pension funds, LSJ Nordurlands expects to merge with other schemes in the near future, but it is determined to dominate post-merger. Iain Morse speaks to the country’s sixth largest pension fund on this and its investment strategy going forward.

Like many, Norske Shells Pensjonskasse has struggled with the cooling of the global markets. However, its desire to diversify into alternatives and equity investments has been hampered by a strict Norwegian regulatory environment. Reeta Cevik reports.

Roundtable: nrpn spoke to four Finnish investors about their current and future.

This year’s evaluation of Sweden’s four main buffer funds singled out AP 4 in particular for its decision making process. Meanwhile, in common with investors globally, the AP funds have struggled with flat returns in the first half of 2006. Hugo Greenhalgh conducted in-depth interviews with senior staff at the four funds and with AP 7, the default fund for the PPM system, which is itself under review.

The lack of transparency and rising debt within private equity has led the Swedish financial supervisory authority to call for closer scrutiny. However, Nordic investors plan to increase their exposure to the asset class, though they remain concerned about a lack of good managers and unsustainable returns, writes Chris Newlands.

While the introduction of international accounting standards is putting pension fund deficits under the spotlight for listed corporates, Ericsson’s decision to pump almost €900m into its pension fund was for company-specific reasons. Pirkko Juntunen looks at the issue of pension funding at the telecommunications firm and in wider Europe.

Scepticism of US lawyers and a reluctance to sue companies in which they invest, are two reasons European institutions avoid litigation over losses. But with e1.9bn going unclaimed and court action spurring good governance States-side, continental managers may have an obligation to take the legal route, writes Elizabeth Cripps.

A dramatic drop in the number of adequately funded pension schemes is the story that belies the slight short-term improvement of European scheme funding. The liability level in different countries varies due to the regulatory loopholes funds exploit, so is now the time to tighten the rules? Christine Senior reports.

While the hedge fund industry now totals well over $1,000bn (€781bn) and a few hedge fund groups have broken through the $20bn mark in assets under management, the Latin American region remains relatively undiscovered. Frédéric P. Lebel, CFA, head of hedge fund selection at Lombard Odier Darier Hentsch, addresses its structural aspects as well as its opportunities and risks and finds that global hedge fund investors would be well advised to direct part of their assets to this region.

Keith Patton, head of European fixed income at Aberdeen Asset Management believes that swaps are the key to creating liability matching structures for LDI, by using three strategies – global credit, overlay strategies for interest rate and currency management and opportunities in sub-investment grade markets – for higher performance.

Threadneedle Investments has outsourced its investment operation services to JPMorgan Chase Bank and expects the transfer to take place in October.

European investment management companies are concerned about custodian banks developing an ever-increasing range of added-value products and services while failing to meet their everyday needs, says a study from Investit Intelligence, the investment research house.

Multinational companies could be missing the opportunity to save costs and reduce risks by continuing to operate separate pension schemes across Europe, says Mercer Human Resource Consulting.