Asset Allocation – Page 222
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Features
Doubts dispersing
While considerable slack remains in the Japanese economy, there are also strong signs of sustainable recovery as years of corporate restructuring start to pay dividends. So first the bad news: in its most recent monthly Report of Recent Economic Developments published in February, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) commented that ...
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Features
Protecting portfolios from downside
Portfolio insurance enables investors to limit downside risk while allowing some participation in upside markets. There are a large number of methods of portfolio insurance. The most widely used one is the CPPI (Constant Proportion Portfolio Insurance) developed in the 1980s. The CPPI method allocates assets dynamically over time. The ...
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Features
Europe still a runner
After a strong and sustained recovery in Euro-zone equities that started last year, asset managers are now asking how long has the recovery yet to run. The answer will depend to some extent on valuations. Are Euro-zone stocks still fairly valued or has the recovery made them too expensive? Catherine ...
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Features
Feathering their own nests?
Germany’s 603 Abgeordneten (members of parliament or MdBs) preside over a nation dejected at the prospect of the gradual erosion of their statutory pension system. Some observers suggest that the generosity of the MdBs’ pension scheme simply adds insult to injury. Currently the monthly salary for an MdB is E7,009. ...
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Features
French warm to new plans
When France underwent its major pension reforms last year, all eyes were on the big issue of public sector change - the hurdle on which French governments had stumbled badly in the past. That the government finally won its battle for actuarial equivalence between public and private sector pensions with ...
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Features
Liquidity and risk transfer
Is there – in reality – something that can be called a hedge fund with defining characteristics? If so do they apply to everything that are now called hedge funds? Hedge fund activities are very broad. They have characteristics that are defining such as they sell securities short as well ...
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Features
Pensions wait in West Wing
Alan Greenspan is not just the Federal Reserve chairman. He’s become a Washington wise man whose influence extends far beyond monetary policy. So it took his congressional testimony at the end of February to remind all American politicians that social security urgently needs to be fixed. Up to that point, ...
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Features
Luxembourg plants its acorns
Almost five years ago, Luxembourg passed the legislation that created three new types of international pension vehicle. The Loi RCP of June 1999 enabled the creation of the Sepcav, an open-ended pension plan which operates like a DC plan in the US, and the Assep, which is similar to a ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
