Asset Allocation – Page 238
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Features
Gearing up for pensions
Asset management in the Baltic states is a mixed scene, ranging from investment funds and private pensions in Estonia and Latvia to negligible retail activity in Lithuania. In Lithuania, tax complications have so far prevented the establishment of local investment funds. Meanwhile the private pensions market will only start operating ...
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Slaughtering herds
It’s that time of year again when we ask ourselves – just what investment policies and strategic asset allocation decisions make sense in today’s market? The problem is that we are asking ourselves that question rather too often lately. Unfortunately, we don’t appear to have much in the way of ...
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Portuguese improvement
A change in asset allocation by Portuguese pension funds has resulted in an improvement in returns in the third quarter, according to consultant Watson Wyatt. Median returns from the country’s segregated funds for the third quarter were –2.4% from -3.2% the previous quarter. The third quarter was a difficult period ...
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Make liabilities the starting point
As we head for the third straight year of falling equity markets with pension fund surpluses no longer the norm, we are all too painfully aware of the importance of aligning pension strategies with their ultimate objective. Pension assets need to be invested with reference to pension obligations (ultimate cashflows) ...
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Muddle through scenario
Every one of our investment decisions – from the strategic allocation of assets between equities and fixed-income securities to the choice of individual securities – is based on a combination of macro and micro economic information. When assessing macro-economic trends, we attach great importance to the information we receive on ...
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Time to share risks
One factor which could slow the flow from DB to traditional DC schemes is the growing interest in hybrid pension plans in the UK. Actuaries Lane Clark Peacock point out in their annual survey, ‘Accounting for Pensions’, that traditional final salary DB schemes and occupational DC schemes represent extremes of ...
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AP3 aims for state-of-art modelling
The Tredje AP-Funden -The Third National Swedish Pension Fund is known to most as the AP3 fund for short. On 1 January 2001, new legislation came into effect in Sweden that radically changed the mandate of the Swedish government AP Funds. Flexible investment rules were introduced allowing the funds to ...
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AP7 uses its internet trade reporting system to benefit savers
The Stockholm-based Seventh Swedish National Pension fund, the AP7, describes itself as “a fund option for the entire nation”. Set up just over two years ago, it is different from the other six national pension funds that form part of the restructured state pay-as-you-go (PAYG) system. Firstly, AP7 is a ...
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VPK launches own absolute return fund
Vereinigte Pensionskasse AG (VPK), founded in 1990 is the largest multi-employer pension fund in Austria with a total of e1.9bn under management. Contributions to the pension fund in 2001 counted more than e106m. Paying attention to the volatile capital markets – on the bond side as well as on the ...
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Second time around achievement in much tougher contest
The staff at Germany’s Nestlé Pensionskasse VVag were naturally delighted to discover that they had won another IPE Award, this time for fund administration, following their success in the country category in the inaugural awards of 2001. “We reckon it was our efficient and ‘one-class system’ approach to the fund’s ...
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Acknowledgement for the hard work in creating a new model
The Fonds de Pension Métal (FPM), Belgium’s sector-wide pension fund for its 150,000 metal industry workers, was delighted to learn that it had won the IPE Award for fund structure and innovation. A number of judges welcome it as the first real moves to establishing industry or sector structures. “Winning ...
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Storebrand goes ahead of the curve
In an absence of any interest from existing corporate pension plans or pension trusts, Norway’s life insurers have become the main protagonists of the new tax favoured DC schemes. The insurers already dominate the management of occupational DB plans in Norway. Some NOK 300bn (E41bn) of pension fund assets are ...
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Features
Fund's reputation for being 'a step ahead' is confirmed
What the judges said: “Inarcassa is to be commended for its attention to detail on its asset allocation modelling and decision-making, as well as an excellent presentation, obviously supported by good research. The judges also praised Inarcassa’s “clear decision-making process, external performance monitoring and good risk controls”. Inarcassa’s pension fund ...
