Survey: Insurance Assets Outsourced to US Investment Managers Hit Record High
Insurance company assets managed by third-party US investment firms rose to a record $1.75 trillion at the end of 2010, with BlackRock and Deutsche leading the rankings.
News
DiNapoli Aims to Turn Placement Agent Ban Into Law
New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli has proposed legislation to codify his ban on the involvement of placement agents, paid intermediaries and registered lobbyists in investments with the Common Retirement Fund (CRF).
Citigroup Shuts Down Its $400 Million Proprietary Hedge Fund
Citigroup has reportedly shuttered its $400 million Quantitative Strategies hedge fund, which uses the bank's own cash to bet on stocks, according to Bloomberg News.
Cali Treasurer Urges Transparent Election Spending by CalPERS, CalSTRS
California Treasurer Bill Lockyer has sent letters to the state’s public pension funds to develop policies for full disclosure of corporate political spending.
Australian ETF Industry Should Devote Attention to Institutions, Russell Says
Russell Investments has asserted that the exchange-traded fund (ETF) industry in Australia should focus its attention on institutional investors.
Split Between US and UK Venture Capital Funds Decreases
A new report by the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA) has found that the gap between US and UK venture capital funds has narrowed over the last decade.
Aon Hewitt Says Changes to UK Accounting Standards Could Massively Increase Shortfalls
Consultancy Aon Hewitt cautions that while the pensions deficit for the UK’s largest companies remained stable in May, major changes to accounting standards could increase shortfalls by £10 billion.
After String of Lawsuits, Mass. Pension Joins FX Trading Probe
The chief investment officer of the Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Management (MassPRIM) board says it has hired foreign-exchange transaction cost consultant FX Transparency to analyze the state system’s currency trades for 2009 and 2010.
Study: Institutional Investors Suffer Delay in Changing Managers, Asset Allocation
Institutional investors are taking far longer to change investment managers or asset allocations than they did before the 2008 financial crisis, a study by Mellon Transition Management (MTM) shows.
Study: Asia Attracts More Private Equity
According to research by Preqin, Asia is attracting sufficiently more capital from the 10 largest private equity firms.
In New Guide, CalPERS and Other Institutions Become More Vocal About Hedge Funds
Three years after the global financial crisis and amid a more stringent regulatory climate, institutional investors are outlining their hedge fund requirements in a new guide.
SSgA Study: Australian Institutional Investors to Up ETFs
A report by State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) shows that
exchange-traded funds (ETFs) will play a larger role among Australian
superannuation funds.
Citi Urges Dismissal of $1.3 Billion Lehman Suit
Citigroup is aiming to dismiss efforts by Lehman Brothers to recover $1 billion in collateral that the investment bank was forced to post when it was approaching bankruptcy in 2008, Bloomberg is reporting.
Endowments Ignore Illiquidity Risk, Columbia Professor Says
According to Andrew Ang, professor of business, finance and economics at Columbia University, endowments around the country need to do a better job at figuring out how to allocate money among liquid and illiquid assets.
ADIA Pursues Goldman Sachs Hotel Portfolio
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) is investing $475 million in Goldman Sachs' hotel portfolio.