All Country Reports – Page 53
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Country Report
Ireland: Greatly diminshed
The National Pensions Reserve Fund was designed to help fund future government pension liabilities, writes Pádraig Floyd. How has it fared amid the chaos of the financial markets of 2011?
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Central and Eastern Europe: Decimated
Hungary’s mandatory pension system is in tatters following last year’s nationalisation of the sector’s assets, writes Thomas Escritt
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Central and Eastern Europe: Post traumatic stress
Polish pension funds are not using their freedom to invest more in equities, finds Krystyna Krzyzak
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Central and Eastern Europe: An uncertain year
Poland’s second pillar providers are looking for clarity, writes Krystyna Krzyzak
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Central and Eastern Europe: Sword of Damocles
Romania’s fiscal austerity has sheltered its nascent pension fund industry but the outlook is still unclear, writes Thomas Escritt
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Central and Eastern Europe: Post solidarity
Svobodka Kostadinova and Dr Nickolai Slavchev deliver an overview of the dynamic Bulgarian pension system
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Central and Eastern Europe: National wealth
Iain Morse outlines the development of Russia’s two sovereign wealth funds
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Central and Eastern Europe: Russia’s hot potato
Iain Morse surveys Russia’s nascent occupational pensions market
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Central and Eastern Europe: Domestic pressure
Measures by Iceland’s Central Bank to gradually adjust the krona’s exchange rate are forcing pension funds to invest mainly in domestic krona-denominated assets, reports Iain Morse
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Switzerland: Life in a safe haven
September’s shock devaluation of the Swiss franc halted the decline in the value of Swiss pension funds’ foreign assets. On the other hand, ultra- low rates are putting extreme pressure on funds. Nina Röhrbein assesses asset allocation in the light of these extremes
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Switzerland: Efficient stability
Nina Röhrbein reviews current Swiss asset allocation trends
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Switzerland: No magic formula
The minimum interest rate in the Swiss second pillar was recently cut from 2% to 1.5% for 2012, writes Barbara Ottawa. But experts believe this is still too high to be sustainable
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Switzerland: The problem of converting minds
Legally, Swiss Pensionskassen have to apply a 6.9% conversion rate but the actual rate used is much lower. Barbara Ottawa asks why politics are not adjusting to reality
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Switzerland: The super regulator
Pierre Triponez, president of new Swiss federal pensions supervisory body – the Oberaufsichtskommission (OAK) – discusses his role and remit with Cécile Sourbes
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Switzerland: More fairness needed
Pension funds are feeling the pinch in the sovereign debt crisis, writes Gérard Fischer, CEO of Swisscanto. In the long term, they can only deliver their promised benefits through a better distribution of assets, income and recapitalisation contributions between generations
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The Nordic Region: Guarantees Too much of a good thing
Guaranteed pensions products in Denmark and Sweden for a long time looked too good to be true and perhaps they are. At least, they are too expensive for the providers to retain, which has led to various strategies – either closing the products for new investors or persuading people to ...
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The Nordic Region: ‘Luckily, we don’t have Solvency II’
Martin Steward spoke to pension insurer Varma about how it manages its solvency levels and the impact Solvency II-style rules would have
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The Nordic Region: Fees under scrutiny
Rachel Fixsen assesses Danish pension funds’ transparency about costs and fees
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Country Report
The Nordic Region: Nordic investors take a cautious line
Henrik Hoffmann-Fischer outlines key findings on asset allocation, as well as trends on global versus regional mandates, based on the sixth Nordic Investor Survey
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Country Report
The Nordic Region: Local safe havens: a catch 22
Nordic pension funds have always displayed a bias towards domestically issued fixed income. In the current economic climate, dominated by historically low bond yields and liability-matching, the illiquidity and short maturities that characterise these markets are causing inefficencies in investment models. Nina RÖhrbein reports on the responses of regional players
