Asset Allocation – Page 174
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Features
What do funds have to lose?
The number of securities class action suits in American courts has been growing consistently, a fact that those foreign companies listed on US exchanges are well aware of. According to the Stanford University Securities Class Action Clearinghouse, there were 327 securities class action lawsuits filed in 2001, an increase of ...
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Features
Fee rises strain mutual loyalties
Is TIAA-CREF losing its soul? Certainly it’s losing some business and critics have started questioning the results of the ‘Merrillisation’ of this $360bn (e303bn) management company founded 87 years ago by philanthropist Andrew Carnegie as a non profit organisation to provide low-cost retirement plans and insurance for teachers and researchers ...
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Features
Unvarnished Farnish
The “good things” in Lord Turner’s report were welcomed by Christine Farnish, chief executive of the National Pensions Fund Association at the IPE MultiPensions conference in Amsterdam last month. “First of all he is saying the UK needs a simpler pension system. He is suggesting very fundamental reforms to the ...
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Features
Limited impact so far
When the former Chinese premier Zhou En-lai was asked about the effect of the French Revolution on the world, he is famously said to have quipped that it was too early to tell. His words come to mind when we think about the effect of the euro on equity markets. ...
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Features
New Europe shows potential
Central and east European asset management markets are currently among the fastest growing in Europe. The markets are skewed by the compulsory private pensions system, which distinguishes the region from the ‘old’ EU, but growth is most rapid in the investment fund market, albeit from a low base. According to ...
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Special Report
Double jeopardy
The emerging market spells a quantum leap in investment risk for most pension funds which now view them as an essential alpha generator as traditional asset classes have become both more unpredictable and disappointing in terms of their returns. But what of the newly coined ‘emerging emerging market?’ A class ...
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Features
Tour de force?
The French seem to enjoy making things complicated and in constructing their system of retirement provision they have been true to form. With a mesmerising combination of federations, associations, institutions, groups and sub-groups, observers have their work cut out to make their way round the complex maze that is the ...
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Special Report
Crying need for governance
Most industry participants agree that education has to be the foremost concern. “A lot of boards until recently have been made up of gifted amateurs rather than professionals. There is an expectation that this will change,” says Elizabeth Renshaw-Ames, a worldwide partner at Mercer Investment Consulting. She points out that ...
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Features
Where trustees are coming from
The structure of pension provision in the UK has changed dramatically over the past five years. New roles and responsibilities for sponsors and trustees and the transition to a principles based framework for decision taking, combined with a sharp reversal in the solvency of many pension schemes, have created tension ...
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Features
Virtual debate on challenges
November saw the first-ever IPe-Symposium, an online conference for the European pension industry. The topic for the free event was “The challenges in meeting Europe’s occupational pensions liabilities”. Some of the most senior figures in the field participated and some 668 delegates, from 46 countries, registered to participate - with ...
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Features
When captives set you free
Across Europe, companies have been struggling to contain or reduce costs. As the expense of employee benefits has skyrocketed over the last few years it is not surprising that companies have been taking a long, hard look at how to limit and reduce costs, manage risks and how best to ...
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Features
Plus ça change
The euro’s birth was a monumental event in monetary world history. On 1 January 1999 the euro replaced 10 national currencies that had been used for decades, or centuries, to make domestic and international transactions. The euro also eliminated the ability of central banks in the participating countries to use ...
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Features
Breaking the mould
While Austrian-born California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has been grappling with the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), in the land of his birth the Austrian government was having considerably more success trying to bring its own public service pensions arrangements into line with those of the rest of society. “It ...
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Features
Block trading: horses for courses
One component of transition management that has grown in importance is block trading. As its name implies, this involves the trading of large blocks of shares between institutions. Historically, the problem with block trading is that there is no wholesale market for shares. Large institutional investors trade in the same ...
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Special Report
A question of best practice
For trustees and board members of pension funds in Europe, life has never been harder. A decade ago, things looked rosy. Pension funds were in surplus, and funding levels were not a concern. Pension schemes were posting strong double digit returns, allowing contribution holidays, and spending almost next to no ...
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Features
Time to take back control
The UK local authority pension fund sector1 has changed enormously over the years and today is characterised by increasing oversight, market complexity and externally managed investment strategies. Once renowned for its in-house approach to investing, the sector has long since delegated active control over the investment process to consulting firms, ...
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Special Report
Structured approaches
A two-tiered internal governance structure is being proposed in the Netherlands, the country that is leading on governance in Europe, and where the issue has been under debate for the last few years. Currently, according to the OECD, pension funds are incorporated legal entities separate from the sponsor, and have ...
