Taiwan's PSPF funds billions in new mandates

May 21, 2009

Only 10 fund houses bid in this round of domestic mandates worth a total of NT$24 billion. Six were picked.

The Public Service Pension Fund (PSPF), the $10.95 billion pension fund for Taiwan's 191,000 current and retired civil servants, has announced the results of its latest outsourcing of domestic mandates-- worth a total of NT$24 billion ($732 million).

Only 10 managers bid in this round of mandates and six of them were chosen. The lucky winners include the Site (securities investment trust enterprises) arms of Fuh Hwa, HSBC, ING, Mega, Fubon and Cathay. Each of them will receive NT$4 billion to invest in local equities. The mandates are good for three years.

The latest batch of mandates marks the second time that the PSPF has entered the local equity markets. Only weeks ago, on April 27, it appointed 10 managers for its outsourced domestic mandates. All six managers chosen this time had already scored mandates in the first round. Other managers picked in the first round included JF Asset Management, Yuanta, Polaris and Uni-President Asset Management.

First Bank is the appointed custodian for both sets of mandates.

Concurrent to the hiring of new managers, one manager has been fired. Capital Investment Trust, a manager appointed by the PSPF in 2007, saw one of its mandates terminated. The PSPF says it was not satisfied with the company's investment performance over its entrusted assets.