Asset Allocation – Page 237
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Features
Using benchmarks with right focus
Pension fund investors are demanding more of their benchmarks in the 21st century. The traditional qualities required of a benchmark index are: that it fairly represents an asset class; and is a measure which fund managers are happy to use in running and monitoring portfolios. However, this is no longer ...
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Cool face of benefits
Education. Education. Education. Well, pensions education to be precise. For New Labour’s renowned election promise is just as applicable in the UK to pensions when it comes to the populous at large. This is the strategy overarching the newly created Pension Service which, as part of the Department of Work ...
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Features
Waiting for the big switch
We implement tactical asset allocation strategy as a total-return overlay that enhances strategic portfolio returns. Short-term asset prices are more influenced by ‘sentiment’ than by ‘fair value’. Our approach is to identify fundamental trends not fully reflected in the market consensus today. This means looking for existing imbalances that need ...
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Why a wake-up call is needed
The perception in the UK that a defined contribution pension (DC) plan is a ‘second best’ occupational pension has grown chiefly because of the low level of employer contributions. Employers contribute significantly less to DC schemes than to defined benefit (DB) schemes. The National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) annual ...
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Features
Candidates line up for inspection
In May 2004, eight countries are scheduled to join the enlarged European Union, representing the largest expansion of the union, in terms of scope and diversity, in its history. The countries include the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Slovenia. All of the countries have been preparing for ...
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Capital markets
While developed economy stock markets suffered losses, the exchanges in central and eastern Europe have put in an impressive performance. As of late November stock prices in dollar terms had risen by 32% year to date in Hungary and 24% in the Czech Republic. Even Poland, which had seen poor ...
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Towards point of convergence
Asset management in the central and east European (CEE) states has been booming as solid growth leads to more disposable income. The eight CEE states set for EU membership in May 2004 – Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia – are all recording growth higher than ...
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Effects of convergence
One of the effects of EU convergence has been a convergence of the stock markets of eastern and western Europe. CEE stock markets are approaching their western peers in terms of correlation, according to Helmut Pfeffer, stocks analyst at Raiffeissen Zentralbank (RZB) in Vienna. Three CEE stock markets – the ...
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Features
Corporate pension risk in Europe
As we all know, pensions are receiving substantial attention in the wider press, both in financial and non-financial publications. This has been triggered by a combination of factors: equity underperformance has eroded asset values, falling bond yields have driven up liability values and increased accounting transparency has made the resulting ...
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Costs driving flight from DB
Historically, defined benefit (DB) rather than defined contribution (DC) has been the commonest type of occupational pension in the UK. It is still the dominant plan type. The latest benefit design survey by consultant Watson Wyatt found that 58% of the occupational schemes surveyed were DB while only 23% were ...
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Features
Directive keeps them guessing
When it comes down to multinational pension arrangements in Europe, and, more particularly, the endeavours of European legislators to find a solution to the issue of pan-European pensions, the strangest scenarios can often seem quite commonplace. And so it was at the 2002 IPE Multi Pensions conference in Amsterdam at ...
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Drag factors on recovery
With the continued threat of war in the Middle East hanging over the markets stalling a full-scale recovery, analysts agree that Europe’s equity markets still can’t find real stability, despite some relatively good trading recently and the ECB’s larger than expected 50 basis point interest rate cut. Many predict that ...
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Features
Follow first principles
It is important to recognise that asset allocation is inherently a two-stage process. The first step should be to formulate a benchmark position, based on weighing the investor’s return desires against their tolerance for risk, be it in absolute terms or relative to a liability ‘benchmark’. Once the investment policy ...
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Features
Off the floor
With the FTSE 100 index poised to push up through key resistance levels, sentiment in the London equities market has brightened. But strategists are not holding their breath. Share prices in the UK are unlikely to make any lasting upside progress just yet. The fact that prices have come off ...
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Features
French savings plans' rapid progress
For the last two years, the concept of employee savings, such as saving plans or schemes for profit sharing, has received much publicity from the media. The potentially large volumes of assets available has attracted a number of new providers. For a company, the choice of a fund manager is ...
