Asset Allocation – Page 211
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Features
Church fund guided by divine prudence
One of the main Pensionskassen in Germany is Berlin-based VERKA which was founded in 1924 by the Evangelical Church and today provides pensions for all of the country’s church employees. According to figures published by the German regulator BAFin, VERKA’s asset total of just over E1.5bn at the end of ...
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Features
Growing case for diversifying widely
Greater diversification, a broader opportunity set and on average a higher information ratio might in summary be the case for allocating to global fixed income. If equity volatility wasn’t enough of an inducement, asset/liability modelling also favours bonds over equities. With low yields, and expensive domestic long bonds, investors are ...
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Features
Second half slowdown on cards
The economic recovery is broadening. The US and Asia remain the two engines while the Euroland is accelerating even if it is still lagging. Profit margins keep on rising in the US and Japan. It is bottoming in Euroland but some improvements are expected. So far, the profit cycle is ...
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Features
Pension funds to boost markets
Ukraine, the second biggest country in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) after Russia, is the latest in implementing a World Bank-style three-pillar pensions system. A long-term strategy for pensions reform was developed back in 1998 by PADCO, a contractor for USAID; the company subsequently won USAID’s tender for a ...
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Features
Counting their blessings
The appetite of the Belgian dentist, Belgium’s archetypal retail investor, for capital guaranteed and minimum return products is legendary. To satisfy this investor, investment products must provide protection from downside risk. Now the country’s institutional investors are developing the same sort of appetite. Part of the reason for this is ...
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Features
Bewag believes in 'safety first'
The Berlin-based Bewag Pensionskasse feels that its policy of extreme prudence over the past three years has paid off. Risk is almost a dirty word, as management – and doubtless the members too – content themselves with the chosen ‘safety first policy. The fund, Bewag Pensionskasse, which was Germany’s twelfth-largest ...
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Features
The Anglo-Saxon lesson
I was fascinated by reports of one of the more provocative talks given over the last few weeks was from a former chairman of the UK’s National Association of Pension Funds. Alan Pickering’s speech concerned the future of UK trustees. Given at a European Bond Conference in early April, Pickering, ...
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Features
Closed fund with open agenda
The story of the British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme (BCSSS) is part of the story of the UK’s nationalised coal mining. The fund was created in 1947 as the industry came into public ownership to look after the staff including senior underground personnel, and became a closed fund in 1994, ...
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Features
Market advances to continue
Equity and bond markets made further progress during February, as investors reflected upon an economic background that continues to provide a sufficiently mixed picture to enable both asset classes to prosper. Emerging markets, particularly in Asia and Eastern Europe once again showed some of the best returns in $ terms, ...
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Features
Getting the best from actuaries
For many pension plans, the actuary is a sort of shaman, a person with supra-human abilities in foreseeing the future of assets and liabilities, and special powers to control the solvency level of the pension fund. However, the belief in actuarial shamanism has recently been fading somewhat. Many things have ...
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Features
Setting the standard
ATP stands for supplementary labour market pension scheme in Danish and that’s exactly what it set out to provide 40 years ago this year. It started out firmly in the second pillar by providing benefits for those in employment, with others, such as the unemployed, excluded, explains Bjarne Graven Larsen, ...
