Asset Allocation – Page 148
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Careon steers a steady course
The tax-friendly ‘levensloop’, or life-course, scheme has been characterised as Holland’s damp squib. Leen Preesman hears how PGGM’s new levensloop subsidiary Careon plans to put some fizz into the idea
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US Treasury yields positive as rate cuts on hold
Yield curve/duration The oil price is on the rise, and indeed has been since the start of the year. There are a variety of factors all contributing to the higher prices: strong global demand, recent colder weather, production cuts from OPEC and tensions created by the capture of the fifteen ...
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The end of a perfect storm
Investors need to safeguard against complacency having grown used to double digit returns over recent years, Joseph Mariathasan argues
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Thinking for the future
Where does a pension fund get ideas about a new asset class? ABP Investments is asking its staff to think about new asset classes and has created an ‘innovation committee’ to assess them. Liam Kennedy reports
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A life in pensions with no regrets
Bengt Edström recently retired from his position as pension operations manager and internal consultant at the Swedish power utility Vattenfall Group, and as trustee for Vattenfall’s pensionsstiftelse, the group’s SEK5.5bn (€593m) DB pension vehicle. George Coats interviewed him
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Only the strong survive
Richard Johnson reviews the performance of Asian hedge funds and discovers that a manager for all seasons can be hard to find
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Roll with the punches
Asia may have led the markets down in recent weeks but, Kevin Hebner argues, the case for the region’s equities remains undiminished
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Take the 'A' train
While foreign investors seek out new ways to capture their share of China’s growth phenomenon, the A shares market still offers one of the key entry points to mainland exposure
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Trends fuel growth of professionalism
The investments of caisses de retraites are evolving to cope with a changing landscape, as Jean-Claude Angoulvant and Frédéric Petiniot explain
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Beyond nationhood
The Oxford Handbook of Pensions and Retirement Income Edited by Gordon Clark, Alicia Munnell and Michael Orszag, with the assistance of Kate Williams. ISBN-10: 0-19-927246-8 ISBN-13: 978-0-19-927246-4 936 pages hardback Price: £85 (€124) Oxford University Press This is a welcome new handbook and it is easy to predict that it ...
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Reflections on reaching half a century
Roland van den Brink, managing director of investment at the Dutch PME pension fund, talks to Brendan Maton about family heroes and industry influences
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Quaker values keep DB flag flying
In retaining its defined benefit scheme, the family-owned Musgrave Group is reflecting the ethical values that are the bedrock of its attitude towards its employees. David White spoke with Noel Keeley
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Margins holding up despite high-yield dip
Yield curve/duration Government bonds and other top quality credit have benefited from sharp rise in volatility and subsequent ‘flight-to-quality’ moves. Short-dated bond yields have fallen to such an extent in Europe that the market is not pricing in more European Central Bank (ECB) rate hikes this year. Although most investors ...
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Turning private equity into a public enemy
As private equity deals get bigger, opposition to activities of buy-out firms has grown. Pension funds’ duty is to achieve the best returns through a diversified investment strategy, which may include private equity. But the jobs of pension members can be harmed by the activities of private equity firms
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US pension funds on private equity roll
What might US pension funds reply to Britain’s Trades Union Congress (TUC) about the dangers of private equity? Ahead of June’s G8 summit, the TUC’s general secretary, Brendan Barber, is going to ask pension funds from other countries to rethink their investment policy and stop fuelling buyout fever. Barber said ...
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Europe shows on Robeco radar
Robeco, a Netherlands-based asset manager with global ambitions, has set itself three broad objectives for 2007 and beyond - to invest in Europe, to grow in the US and to seed in the emerging markets. George Möller, who moved from Euronext to become Robeco’s chief executive in 2004, says investment ...
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On track for a new future
Last month Johan Vanbuylen retired as director of FBZ Electriciens, the industry-wide pension plan for the Belgian electrical sector, which he had headed since its inception in 2002. The scheme has 40,000 members and €32m under management. George Coats talks to him
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Pensions panacea
Pension Revolutionby Keith Ambachtsheer ISBN 13/978-0-470-08723-7 Price: $80 (€60) hardcover 336 pages hardback John Wiley & Sons n his preface, Keith Ambachtsheer dedicates his third book to the idea that the adverse events of the first half of this decade have finally created the conditions to realise the pensions vision ...
