Allianz, the German insurance company is buying Nicholas- Applegate mutual funds; and ABN Amro, the Dutch bank, is buying Alleghany Asset Management.
They expect privatization of European pension systems (our equivalent of Social Security), and do not want to get caught when deposits move from banks and insurance to money management firms, as happened in the US.
In Europe, banks and insurance are more prevalent as savings, as they used to be in the US, than mutual funds or securities.
The article quotes the chief financial officer of Allianz, Joachim Faber, "All our rotten state pension systems, going forward, will have to be funded. There is no way around it, whether the governments want to or not."
I would dispute Herr Faber's characterization; it sounds like Maggie Thatcher's TINA. But there is no disputing that privatization of Social Security (or its equivalents) is in the works, and European finance is preparing for it.
Not good.
-- John K. Taber
-- John K. Taber