Asset Allocation – Page 185
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Features
Huge leap of faith needed
France’s new retirement savings scheme came under scrutiny at a conference organised by AFPEN, the French Pension Funds Association, in Paris recently. The Forum de l’Épargne Retraite saw concern that France’s two new retirement savings vehicles - one for the individual, the PERE, and one for collective company arrangements, the ...
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Features
The Dutch revolution
“The Dutch pensions industry had come from being a virtually unknown pension power 10 years ago, to being the global pension revolution leader today,” said Keith Ambachtsheer, academic and strategic adviser to pension plans. Ambachtsheer, who runs KPA Advisory Services in Toronto, was one of the high profile speakers to ...
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Features
PBGC reaches defining moment
More urgent than fixing social security, is preventing the bankruptcy of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp (PBGC). The US Congress thinks so and is willing to discuss new legislation - the pension protection act (PPA) - to avoid a public bailout of private pension funds that could dwarf the $200bn ...
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Special Report
Fund members' social conscience
Danish industry-wide pension fund PKA, which has assets of more than E12bn, has recently adjusted its ethical guidelines for the fund’s investments. But this is certainly not the first time that ethical investment has been on the fund’s agenda – PKA has worked with ethical aspects of its investments for ...
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Special Report
FRR reflecting interests of community
The French pensions reserve fund, Fonds de Réserve pour les Retraites (FRR), is in the process of devising and awarding SRI mandates. It has already appointed consultancy Bfinance to help with the request for proposals, and the tender process was launched at the end of June. The whole manager selection ...
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Features
Chemistry of mix and match
ICI’s business philosophy is decentralisation. The company’s worldwide operations, which span some 50 countries, are divided into four business units, each of which is granted a significant degree of autonomy. But there is one important exception. The one area in which the company is pursuing an active policy of centralisation ...
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Special Report
Encouraging change in firms
Directors of the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) decided to adopt a policy of responsible investment in 1999. USS, the occupational pension fund for UK Universities, with assets of about £20bn (e30bn), is the second largest corporate pension fund in the UK. David Russell, adviser on responsible investment at USS, says ...
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Features
Rising to the challenge
With a relatively young population, higher retirement age and regulations that offer little incentive for early retirement, Iceland faces fewer problems due to ageing than most European countries. However, local pension funds still face many challenges. There is a rising number of disability claims, fund managers must meet targets in ...
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Features
Challenging the grey cells
The Pensions Management Institute (PMI) was established almost 30 years ago in the UK with the specific aim of raising standards. Since then the institute has built a strong reputation for providing industry standard qualifications, and its members are recognised throughout the pensions industry as having wide-ranging and practical knowledge ...
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Features
Solving Britain's pensions crisis
Not very long ago, Britain’s pension system was the envy of Europe, if not the world. Other European countries faced the prospect of ever higher government spending and budget deficits as their populations aged: their high state pension promises were beginning to look rather reckless. Britain, meanwhile, had funded schemes ...
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Features
Bridging the gap
Before they were united in the 19th century both Germany and Italy were described as geographic expressions rather than countries. There are those who suggest that the same thing might be said now of Belgium. Throughout the second half of the 20th century the central government responded to friction between ...
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Features
Belgians seek level playing field
The body advising Belgian minister Bruno Tobback on pensions issues is to consider a legal formula to create a level playing field between new sector-wide pension funds being established under the socalled Vandenbroucke Law (VDB) and pension insurance companies. In the formative period the new pension funds are not legal ...
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Special Report
Walk before you can run
Although most people in the investment industry agree pension funds are becoming more interested in SRI, there are many different ways of approaching it. From choosing how strictly they should judge companies they invest in, to defining why they want SRI in the first place, pension funds face a series ...
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Features
Sweden’s PPM appoints board for ‘better advice’
The Swedish Premium Pension Authority, PPM, has created a four-strong scientific advisory board, which includes Michael Orzag of Watson Wyatt. The board is to function as a reference point for PPM’s work and give the authority advice in areas of academic research, financial economics as well as communication. It comprises: ...
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Features
Involuntary acts of generosity
“We are the best value MPs in Europe,” says Gerhard Hess of the Swiss Democrats. Swiss parliamentarians – MPs and senators, are unique in Europe, if not the world, in that they do not receive a salary. This means that while Swiss workers as a whole are among the most ...
