One of Italy's wealthiest regions, Trentino-Sud Tirol, is preparing to launch four pension funds, for which it will hold an international tender for money managers.

Centrum PensPlan SpA, a pensions advisory company set up by the regional authorities, has established contact with several big US funds to help devise its strategy. It has hired the Montreal-based consultancy firm, Brookhouse Coopers, to advise on investment and money manager selection. The Trentino region, including the mostly German-speaking province of Bolzano, has a high degree of administrative and cultural autonomy. This has been reflected in its policy towards private pension funds. Oskar Peterlini, chief executive of Centrum PensPlan SpA, said: "Instead of having separate occupational funds for different industries or professions, as in the rest of Italy, we have sought to rationalise the process by creating four funds for workers in the region. We expect this to allow us to build a critical mass of assets quickly.' The first pension fund to be launched will be Laborfonds. It will be for workers in the region who would normally qualify for the industry-wide occupational funds and those set up by particular professional groups, such as doctors. The fund should receive official authorisation from Covip, the pensions market regulator, this month. Laborfonds has already signed on 35,000 members, although it is forecasting that 300,000 could join over the next six or seven years. Peterlini said the fund expects annual contributions to be around L3.5m (E70m) a head. The advisory company's most pessimistic forecast is to have L250bn of assets in Laborfonds by the end of 2001, although Peterlini personally considers this to be a conservative estimate. Centrum PensPlan SpA, in collaboration with a local insurance company, will also set up an open pension fund for workers who do not qualify for the occupational funds. A third, closed, fund will be launched for self-employed workers while a fourth, open, fund will be created to provide additional opportunities for retirement investment in the region.