Calpers investigating fees paid to outside manager who used to sit on pension fund's boardOctober 15th, 2009 Calpers reviewing fees paid to outside managerNEW YORK — The nation's largest pension fund, the California Public Employees' Retirement System, says it is investigating fees paid to an outside manager that directed the fund's investments. Calpers said late Wednesday it is reviewing payments of $50 million over a five-year period to Arvco Financial Ventures, which is headed by former Calpers board member Al Villalobos.
Obama warns Wall Street: If risk-taking produces new crisis, no new bailout can be expectedSeptember 14th, 2009 Obama warns Wall Street againt high-risk behaviorNEW YORK — President Barack Obama says he sees new signs of the kind of high-risk business behavior that nearly caused a financial meltdown a year ago and is warning Wall Street there won't be another bailout. In a widely anticipated speech in the heart of New York's financial district, Obama also said he feels confident that the country's financial system has been steadied.
Agents' incentives needed to push pension schemeSeptember 11th, 2009 KOLKATA - India's pension regulator has called for attractive incentives for collection agents in a bid to popularise the new social security scheme as they are the main point of contact between the subscriber and the pension fund. "Incentives are needed as there is no provision for commission under the recently launched NPS (New Pension Scheme)," said Praveen Kumar, executive director of Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority executive director here Friday.
Report: Most Cerberus investors choose to leave company's primary hedge fundsAugust 29th, 2009 Report: Cerberus investors choose to leave fundsNEW YORK — The Wall Street Journal reports that investors in the main hedge funds of New York-based private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management LP want out and are asking for the return of more than $5.5 billion, or about 71 percent of fund assets. The Journal cited people familiar with the matter.
NY pension fund investments regain $6.6 billion in June quarter following year of lossesJuly 31st, 2009 NY pension fund begins reboundALBANY, N.Y. — New York's public pension fund reports regaining some of the value it lost in last year's Wall Street meltdown and national recession, growing to $116.5 billion in the quarter that ended in June.
New pension system to be offered to more segmentsJuly 2nd, 2009 CHENNAI - Expressing satisfaction over pension sector reforms, the government in its Economic Survey 2008-09 has said the new pension system (NPS) will be offered to more segments. "Efforts are underway to extend the NPS to new segments (autonomous bodies, state governments and unorganised sector) and introducing micro-pension initiatives," said the survey tabled in parliament Thursday.
Official: Foreign investments up in the Arab world in 2008 despite global meltdownJune 22nd, 2009 Inter-Arab investments up despite financial crisisBEIRUT — Direct foreign investments to the Arab world increased 20 percent in 2008 compared to the previous year, even as the region grappled with the impact of the global economic meltdown, the head of an Arab investment body said Monday. The gains, which came even as regional and global equity markets saw an exodus of capital, were largely tied to inter-Arab investments, said Fahad Al-Ibrahim, the director-general of the Arab Investment and Export Credit Guarantee Corporation, a Kuwait-based autonomous Arab regional organization that aims to promote Arab capital mobility.
Private equity firm Riverstone Holdings to pay $30 million to settle role in NY pension probeJune 11th, 2009 Firm settles over its role in NY pension probeNEW YORK — The private equity firm Riverstone Holdings has agreed to pay $30 million and abide by a new code of conduct to resolve its role in a corruption scandal at New York's giant government pension fund. Riverstone, which invests in energy and power companies, was among several investment firms that embraced improper "pay-to-play" tactics while trying to persuade state officials to let them manage hundreds of millions of dollars in retirement system assets, according to an investigation led by Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.
Calif. businessman pleads guilty in NY probe of influence peddling at public pension fundsMay 12th, 2009 Businessman pleads guilty in NY pension probeNEW YORK — A California businessman has pleaded guilty to securities fraud in connection with an investigation of alleged corruption at New York's public pension fund. The attorney general's office said Tuesday Julio (HOO'-lee-oh) Ramirez entered into a corrupt agreement with a top political aide to former New York Comptroller Alan Hevesi (HE'-vuh-see) to ensure that his company's clients got a slice of pension fund investments.
Politically connected placement agents get subpoenas in NY pay-to-play pension probeMay 8th, 2009 Political agents get subpoenas in NY pension probeNEW YORK — Investigators probing influence peddling at the state pension fund have subpoenaed a number of politically connected New Yorkers who picked up big paychecks lobbying former officials at the retirement fund. State officials on Wednesday released a list of dozens of agents who acted as middlemen between investment firms and pension fund officials during the tenure of former comptroller Alan Hevesi.
Detroit official charged city pension fund $20,000 for trip to conference in DubaiMay 5th, 2009 Detroit official bills Dubai trip to pension planDETROIT — Records show a Detroit official charged the city's police and firefighters pension plan more than $20,000 for a trip to the Persian Gulf emirate of Dubai. The Detroit Free Press says city councilwoman Barbara-Rose Collins booked a nearly $10,000 business-class plane ticket to attend a pension conference in Dubai last fall.
Poll panel seeks explanation from pension fund authorityMay 2nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Election Commission Saturday asked the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) to explain why its advertisement of the New Pension Scheme' had been different from the version for which the poll panel had given permission. The poll panel asked the pension authority to explain the deviation and non-compliance with the panel's order for the advertisement which appeared in the Hindu newspaper.
Insurers bank on marketing to beat new pension schemeMay 1st, 2009 CHENNAI - Life insurers are depending on their strong distribution network to stave off the competition challenge posed by the cheaper National Pension Scheme (NPS) that was launched Friday. Even though the fund managers for NPS will charge only 1 paise per Rs.100 (0.0009 percent) as service charge, comparing to 2.5 percent on the fund value charged by life insurers, the latter do not expect drastic reduction in sales, industry officials said.
Amid scandal, NYC comptroller joins state in bans lobbyists from state pension investmentsApril 22nd, 2009 NYC comptroller bans agents in pension investmentsNEW YORK — New York City's comptroller has joined state officials in saying he wants to ban lobbyists known as placement agents from soliciting business from government pension funds. Wednesday's prohibition responds to a scandal in which two aides to a former state comptroller have been charged with collecting millions of dollars in kickbacks through payments to placement agents.
NY comptroller bans placement agents, lobbyists from steering pension fund investmentsApril 22nd, 2009 NY comptroller bans agents in pension investmentsNEW YORK — Amid a growing corruption scandal, New York's comptroller on Wednesday barred investment firms soliciting business from the state pension fund from employing lobbyists known as placement agents. The move comes about a month after state and federal investigators accused two top aides to former comptroller Alan Hevesi of using their positions to pressure investment firms into paying millions of dollars to politically connected placement agents.
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