Regulation

The SEC has asked the nation’s largest public pension fund whether two former officials had any contact with an alternative investment manager convicted of paying officials for access to funds.

Despite recent controversy over e-mails and a conference that is likely to lead to little in hard results, there is growing evidence that institutional investors increasingly are investing with global warming in mind.

Following similar suits by Mississippi and California, the Ohio Attorney General files suit against rating agencies.

A group of investors that includes CalPERS, CalSTRS, bcIMC, and others has petitioned the SEC in hopes of requiring companies to disclose balance-sheet risk relating to climate change.

Led by three state pension funds, the class action suit accused the insurer of misrepresenting revenues from contingent commissions.

Following a national trend and hoping to align itself with new state laws, pension giant CalPERS has increased disclosure requirements for investment managers that utilize placement agents.

Following on the news that CalPERS knew of forex overcharges as early as 2003, State Street has upped its battle fund in preparation for a drawn-out legal battle regarding this and other claims.

Following a poor 2008, the City of London defined benefit pension plan is considering increasing oversight of investment managers as they look to enter the alternative market.

The proposed plan would allow underfunded pension plans nine years, not seven, to make up the funding shortfall.

State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli is questioning whether the move is allowed under the state’s constitution.

The actions would ban underfunded plans from taking employer holidays, among other proposed reforms.

Dark pools, often a place for institutional investors to trade anonymously in large quantities, are now under pressure from the SEC.

Following scandal at New York’s Common Fund and CalPERS, former Chairman Arthur Levitt is calling on President Obama to launch a countrywide investigation into middlemen and public pension funds.

A study by Charles River Associates states that European pensions could see limited investment options and weaker returns due to the draft directive on alternative asset management.