Asset Allocation – Page 212
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Features
Simplification, protection and uncertainty
Last year was a year of consultation in the UK. As part of the government’s strategy to encourage retirement savings and restore confidence in pensions in the UK, both the Inland Revenue and the Department for Work & Pensions (DWP) are undertaking simplification reviews. The Revenue published in the autumn ...
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Re-engineering of plans under way
How is it possible to cut pension costs yet at the same time to remain attractive to employees? This is the conundrum faced by American employers. There is no ‘sure’ answer. What is certain is that the great majority of US pension fund sponsors are changing their benefit strategy. According ...
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Features
Widening perspectives
French asset managers are in no doubt about what will be the most important event in institutional asset management in France this year – the eagerly-awaited award of mandates by the Fonds de Reserve Pour Les Retraites (FRR), the country’s new pension reserve fund. The final selection of managers for ...
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Moving in tandem
Over the last business cycle, the Euro-zone performed better than the US in those areas that drive the return on capital, notably productivity. Although Euro-zone GDP growth is likely to remain far lower than US growth, Euro-zone asset returns are likely to be as high, if not higher, than in ...
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Features
Nexans linked 'by principles'
Just over a century since the creation of the Société Française des Câbles Électriques (1897), a pioneer in the world of electric cables, the firm began the 21st century in a new incarnation as Nexans, following a spin off from the Alcatel group (where it was the Alcatel Cable arm) ...
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Features
Keeping on top of technology
Most pension funds acknowledge the importance of technology to their business, whether they install applications in-house or outsource their requirements. However, technology is not a one-time decision like choosing an office or organisational logo. The questions then arise of how often a fund should review its technology, how it should ...
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Features
The price of integrity
Levels of pay and benefits for members of the Oireachtas (Irish parliament) have increased dramatically over the last few years as it became clear that low salaries had their own cost, other than low morale: corruption. As of June last year the basic salary for TDs (members of the Irish ...
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Features
How much further to go?
The UK equity market is likely to underperform its main rivals in 2004. The UK economy has weathered the storm relatively well and as such scope for large gains is limited. The UK equity market one of the most expensive equity markets in the world having participated in the rally ...
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Waiting for flight to quality
With a rise of 32% in the S&P500 from market lows it is fair to say that investor appetite for US equities has gone up since IPE’s last report on this market. But the overall market return figure disguises wide disparity in performance between sector, style and capitalisation bands. Whereas ...
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Time to be more discriminating
After having seen a resurgence of many negative shocks in the last three years, investors have rediscovered since mid-2003 two more positive factors. First, the strength of a global upturn driven by buoyant foreign trade, and second, the effectiveness of very accommodative economic policy (although this is at the cost ...
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Features
Why CTAs can unlock solutions
In Germany at present the dominant way of financing occupational pensions is still represented by so called Pensionsrückstellung (pension provision), through on-balance sheet book reserves. Annual additions to pension provisions are tax deductible, and need not to be asset backed. Both advantages explain why this way of financing has been ...
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Features
Too complicated for its own good
The German pension system is widely regarded as being one of Europe’s most complex. If that wasn’t bad enough, leading observers believe aspects of the reforms currently being discussed in Parliament simply don’t make sense. “The devil is in the detail,” says Peter Scherkamp, managing director of German pension consultants ...
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Features
Conservative in approach
Private pensions are still a young industry in central and east European (CEE) countries, but differing legislation has produced a range of investment strategies, reports a survey* produced by FI-AD Financial Advisory of Budapest. The survey, sponsored by East-West Management Institute of Vienna, used its own and the standard Organisation ...
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Features
Where the action is
Economic growth is accelerating globally, led by the excellent performance of the US economy. Conditions for sustainable growth in the US are falling into place, rising profits are positively contributing to economic growth and monetary policy is easy and fiscal policy will remain supportive ahead of the presidential election. Outside ...
