Asset Allocation – Page 192
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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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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
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
Fighting the good fight
“Whatever happens we must not lose,” this may seem a battle cry from a general rallying his men in an historical battle. Instead it was uttered in the less eventful occasion of an interview, and it applies to the Italian pension scenario – perhaps not a far cry from a ...
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Features
French reforms at work
Two reforms are at work in France. The retirement reform law of August 2003 aims to secure the sustainability of the French retirement system by giving everyone the opportunity to build his own pension by way of specific retirement savings provisions. This law is complemented by the draft law implementing ...
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Features
Tougher times in giving market
UK charities have enjoyed bumper returns on their investments over the past year. The average charity fund achieved a total return of 13%, according to preliminary results for the latest Charity Fund survey from WM Performance Services. However, the gains are largely caused by the strong market rally in the ...
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Features
Going for the middle ground
For years, a typical allocation of 70% equities and 30% fixed income delivered double-digit equity returns. However, the fall in equity returns seen over the last five years has pushed many pension funds into deficit. Pension funds can continue allocating 70% to equities and hope that they recover sufficiently to ...
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Features
Too much information
There is no doubt that running a global equity portfolio is a macho activity that any red-blooded CIO would like to put their name to. It is also a good fallback in the event that a merger takes place and the loser in the battle for CIO has to be ...
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Special Report
Mainstream-type returns is key
The UNISON staff pension scheme in the UK has committed all of its equities investment - two-thirds of total assets - to SRI. In September 2003, the fund put £100m (e150m) into an SRI mandate run by Morley Fund Management. At the time, it was the largest sum ever to ...
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Features
Widening the net
Unpasteurised cheeses are becoming ever more popular in the UK on account of their more complex flavour – a flavour which becomes still more complex as the cheese matures. The sophistication of tastes is presenting new challenges - and thereby opportunities - to many a UK cheese manufacturer. Especially the ...
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Features
Story of pensions success
Croatia’s second pillar pension funds have proved to be a spectacular success since their foundation in 2002, despite being launched against an unstable political background as the country grappled with recovery from the 1991-95 Yugoslav war and political parties pursued confrontation rather than consensus. The reform also paved the way ...
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Features
On the right track
The pension fund of the Dutch rail system, Spoorwegpensioenfonds (SPF) is the oldest and now one of the largest pension funds in the Netherlands, with some 77,000 members and assets of €10bn. The non-compulsory, industry-wide fund, which celebrates its 160th anniversary this year, was one of the first funds in ...
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Features
Case for active style allocation
Although the existing literature seems to concur on the interest of hedge funds as valuable investment alternatives, there seem to be several shortcomings in current industry practice when it comes to fully capitalising on the advantages of including hedge funds in an investor’s asset allocation. So far, the only solution ...
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Features
Pensions reforms back on track
Few countries need pension reforms as badly as Russia. The majority of the country’s 40m pensioners live in dire poverty, and this population is increasing as a result of increasing longevity. Pensions reforms, however, have had a mixed response, from both the public and providers. Their complexity has raised questions ...
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Features
How BASF has it taped
Let us rewind to the year 1888. In that year BASF was one of the first companies in Germany to set up a Pensionskasse. Fast-forward to the present: Today it caters for BASF’s German employees with a funding of around E4.5bn, and forms part of a network of schemes with ...
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Features
Managing home bias
IPE asked three pension funds in three countries – in Finland, Ireland and Switzerland – the same question: ‘Do pension funds have a duty to invest in local industries?’ Here are their answers: Bríd Horan, general manager of Ireland’s ESB Pension Fund, which has AUM of e2.8bn. “Irish pension ...
