IPE European Pension Funds Awards 2010
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| • Download our IPE 2010 Awards supplement |
| • Click Here to Register to attend |
| • Click Here to Submit your entry (deadline for entries 24th September 2010) |
| • Click Here for Seminar Programme |
The IPE European Pension Fund Awards were created to recognise and celebrate the hard work of those running the pension funds, setting benchmarks for others to follow.
There is no denying that this annual gathering of pensions professionals has now become the event of the year for everyone involved in Europe's pensions industry.
The European Pension Fund Awards consist of a seminar followed by a gala dinner during which the Awards are presented. The gala dinner is preceded by a cocktail reception and followed by an after dinner party making the IPE Awards the ultimate networking event.
You will find all the information you may need on the Awards on this site. Should you need any further information, please do not hesitate to contact us. We will be delighted to answer your questions (please go to the Contacts page).
2009 | FACTS
- 525 attendees
- 253 pension fund executives / capital owners
- 29 countries represented
What do our winners say?
- ATP in Denmark
ATP has used the IPE Awards as a way to benchmark the fund's progress. Though we have won Awards since 2004, we set our sights on being the Best European Pension Fund in 2006 and achieved this in Dublin in 2009, when we won seven awards. Not only does winning give us the benefit of an internal standard to judge ourselves by, but it also results in us sharing ideas with pension funds from across Europe which come to ATP - a process we learn much from too."
Bjarne Graven Larsen CIO ATP
- Tapiola Pension in Finland
"Winning the Best In-house Investment Team Award was a great recognition for Tapiola Pension, especially for our successful investment team, as well as for our own independent investment policy. The Award was widely recognized by our employees, board members, customers and media as well. By winning this Award, we received a great deal of interest in our investment strategy from our stakeholders."
Hanna Hiidenpalo CIO Tapiola Pension
- De Eendragt Pensioen in Netherlands
"Proud' is the best word for how all our stakeholders felt on winning the Best European Pension Fund Award 2008. Winning this award for a small organization confirms that you have done something very special and we obtained many positive reactions from the Dutch pensions community. The IPE Award was displayed on our website and we designed a special cover with transparent paper for our annual 2008 report. The fact that the awards are judged by professional insiders is seen as an important approval of the quality of De Eendragt."
Philip Menco CIO De Enedragt Pensioen
- Environment Agency in the UK
"Winning both the Best SRI and Best Pension Fund in the UK has lent additional credence to our investment strategy and its promotion with our members, sponsor and industry peers. We believe winning such prestigious awards also helps us attract the best managers for our mandates - leading to better returns for our fund"
Howard Pearce Head of Environment Agency Pension Fund
- ERAFP in France
"For a young pension scheme as ERAFP being considered as the Best Pension Fund in France and the Best ESG Pension Fund in Europe by such a reference in the pensions community as IPE is an incentive for the trustees to maintain their deeply rooted commitment to responsible investment and a source of motivation for ERAFP employees in their day-to-day efforts to implement it"
Philippe Desfosses CEO ERAFP
- PensPlan in Italy
"In this world full of uncertainties, winning the Best Small European Pension Fund Award meant we obtained an ‘expert opinion', which confirmed we are on the right track with our investment strategy. Since image and trust are crucial in our business, the Award helps us to increase them both, as well as the self-confidence of the trustees"
Michael Atzwanger Managing Director and Michel Thomas CIO PensPlan
- Construction Workers Pension Scheme in Ireland
"Your awards are a great contribution to the industry. People are too often hard at work without the acknowledgment of their peers. So the awards are a very good idea. We had a lot of fun and satisfaction when receiving our awards and letting the pension industry at home and abroad learn more about what we do."
Pat Ferguson, CEO of the CWPS
- Lansforsakringar in Sweden
"Our members, employees and boards are very pleased that Lansforsakringar once again won the Award for Best Swedish Pension Fund. It is great for all of us at the fund that IPE acknowledges our work for efficient risk management and our strong results over the years. We also very much appreciated receiving the Special Award for Exemplary Results"
Gustav Karner Chief Financial Officer Länsförsäkringar
- Pensioensfonds KBC in Belgium
"Winning the Award for Best European Pension Fund had a big impact of the staff and board of our pension fund: We all were very proud! Moreover, the fact that a pension fund from a small country like Belgium could actually beat the 'pension giants' from the Netherlands and the UK also meant a lot to the Belgian pension fund community"
Edwin Meysmans Bestuurder-ditrecteur Pensioenfonds KBC
- PNO Media in the Netherlands
"We are very proud to win the Best Pension Fund in the Netherlands Award. This is a special award for our PNO colleagues, who have worked very hard in this difficult and volatile year. This Award is also an encouragement to us to extend and further develop our policy of responsible investment. We received congratulations from colleague pension funds, insurance companies, consulting firms and representative associations such as VB"
Leo Witkamp, Director Pension Fund PNO Media
- Industriens Pensionforsikring in Denmark
"This year's Award was our fifth and we tried to get as much positive reaction as possible on receiving these Awards. A press release is sent out and we have been mentioned a lot in the press, both immediately and in the weeks following. We highlight it on our homepage. It is very important to our board and sponsors, as well as to our employees and in particular the investment team. The winning of many Awards by Danish funds is also good for the reputation of our pension industry"
Jan Ostergaard CIO Industriens Pensionsforsikring
Make this the year your fund is a winner
Monaco venue for the 10th anniversary of IPE's European Pension Funds Awards
The IPE European Pension Funds Awards celebrates its tenth anniversary this year, with the same aim now as when it commenced - to be completely focused on the achievements of those running Europe's funded pension arrangements. The spotlight of the IPE Awards' 'Search for Excellence' is on finding such funds irrespective of their size, where they are located in Europe, whether they are in the public or private sector, or are defined benefit or defined contribution.
In good times and in bad times over the past decade, the IPE Awards has sought to highlight the achievement of those funds that are leading the way forward by recognising their success in a very public way at our gala awards ceremony and dinner.
We believe that in the current difficult climate, the challenges facing pension funds have never been greater and the need for the IPE Awards never more clear-cut as funds work hard to overcome the pressures they face. Winning pension funds can act as beacons in this environment and will be given recognition at this year's IPE Awards in Monaco on 7 December .
The 37 IPE Awards will be presented to those funds, which have performed in an exemplary way in some area of pensions practice (more details). They are awarded at a Country or Regional (in the case of CEE countries), as Themed Awards for success in a specialist area, as well at the higher European level.
We have always believed it is essential for the IPE Awards to be presented at an event to which all pension funds in Europe are invited - and we have made attending as problem free as we can, as from the first event we reimbursed funds for their travel costs and arranged for their accommodation.
The event has grown from around 250 attending 10 years ago to over 600 at some of the more recent gatherings, making the IPE Awards the biggest annual coming together of Europe's pensions community, as far as we are aware. In Dublin in 2009, pension funds from 30 countries attended, making it a truly pan-European event.
During that period, we have developed the IPE Pensions Seminar held on the day of the IPE Awards, where the high level issues of the industry are discussed and pension funds are able to network with their colleagues from across Europe (more details).
This year, Edhec Risk, the leading French Business School, which specialises in investment management, is running its famous ‘Institutional Days' immediately following the IPE Awards on December 8 and 9, at the same venue (more details), making the IPE Awards the ‘must-attend' event of the year for pension funds.
To win an IPE Award is, we believe, a real achievement, which brings a number of benefits as some of our previous winners testify above. These comments show there is nothing like being part of a winning team and the resulting boost or receiving an Award can give to all directly involved in the fund.
But winning can also have a tremendous impact on other fund participants and stakeholders, such as pensioners, contributing members, pension fund staff and fund sponsors, to demonstrate that the pension fund they are actively involved with has been singled out for recognition.
The benefits of winning can be wider, as the result of obtaining an award at a European-wide event can have a real impact and significance at a local level. Bringing home an IPE Award can mean a step change in the recognition coming from your own marketplace.
The judging of the IPE Awards occurs at Country, Themed and European levels, with different panels of judges for each country and specialist area. All in all, up to 100 different judges can be involved in the process. Our judges usually come from the pensions and investment consultants.
Lastly, we have streamlined the entry procedure with our online system and this year we have introduced the new nomination process (see panel) to attract a greater range and number of entries (more details). Further details are available at www.ipe-awards.com
