Asset Allocation – Page 250
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Features
A fund is born
When Irish finance minister Charlie McCreevy announced on 23 July 1999 that the Irish government had approved a new strategy to maintain the exchequer’s ability to finance future pension provision in Ireland through the creation of a giant reserve fund, the impact of his statement was by no means confined ...
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Features
Fund gets budgetary green light from EU
For the Irish government, the introduction of such a significant reserve fund into the country’s balance sheet posed not only the question of domestic support, but also that of adherence to the EU Growth and Stability Pact – the 1997 requirement that all member states bring their budgets into balance ...
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Features
Manager selection: case studies
Daiwa SB Investments e125m Japanese equities mandate Where did you originally learn about the National Pensions Reserve Fund mandate? Our company paid particularly close attention to the changes in Irish government legislation. In addition to following legislation proceedings, we received official notification of the tender process through the web-based IPE-Quest ...
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Features
New challenges for second pillar in Greece
Policy makers involved within the social security and benefits context in Greece are faced with major new challenges since the beginning of 2002. For a number of years, discussions on the reform of the domestic social protection system was a hot issue on the political agenda, leading to strong reactions ...
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Features
How the old order is changing
Consider these two quotes: “After five years of underperformance the UK’s ‘big five’ fund managers are losing pension business to their specialist rivals”, and “Merrill Lynch, Schroders, and Gartmore are among a group of the world’s best-known fund managers who suffered a dramatic fall in their UK pensions business last ...
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Features
Commission of seven prudent persons
For his vision of the state pension fund to become reality, it was essential for Irish finance minister Charlie McCreevy to find the right structure to implement and manage such an important pool of assets. The arrangements for the governance and management of the fund were modelled on the successful ...
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Features
The commissioners
Donal Geaney is chairman and chief executive of drug delivery and biopharmaceutical firm, Elan Corporation, Ireland’s largest public company. Geaney joined Elan in 1987 as executive vice president, corporate planning before being elected to the board of directors in 1992 and later assuming the positions of president and chief operating ...
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Features
A daunting experience: NTMA’s investment management
That the NTMA was in clear control of the type of managers it wanted for the fund and the type of contract it was seeking to enter into was clear from the off in this huge RFP. One pertinent example came in the second stage of the appraisal, when the ...
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Features
Hybrids offer extra dimension
Slumping investment returns in the major stock markets, an increase in longevity and the introduction of new accounting standards, among other factors, have left many pension funds in deficit. Conversely, the downturn in the global economy has forced organisations to be more cost-aware. As a result, many companies are currently ...
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Features
Laying down a legacy
For Irish finance minister Charlie McCreevy, interest in the concept of an Irish reserve fund for pensions came some time before his arrival on the Irish political scene. “My own interest stems from two factors. Firstly, for many years, I would read what the occasional commentators wrote about the so-called ...
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Features
Rebuilding of US savings key factor
The disconnect so far this year between positively surprising global economic statistics and falling equity markets is described by many commentators as highly abnormal, with the only precedent occurring in the early 1930s. There appears to be a great reluctance to recognise the extreme abnormality of the whole post-1997 cycle. ...
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Features
Filling in the gap
The growth of third pillar defined contribution schemes in France has been hampered, historically, by the generosity of the country’s first and second pillar pension systems. The combination of a high level of social security pension and the complementary ‘repartition’ (pay-as-you-go) schemes of ARRCO and AGIRC – mandatory for all ...
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Features
Scottish managers shift focus
Scottish asset managers have always had to look beyond their own national market for their business. South of the border has historically been the major market for the managers from Edinburgh and Glasgow, but some have fished successfully further afield, particularly in North America. Now with the European markets opening ...
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Features
Russian pension reform goes on
As the main achievement, the new three-pillar system incorporating the mandatory funded pillar was launched in 1 January 2002. Now 2% out of 28% of pension contributions calculated from the payroll are used for investment purposes. In 2002, all contributions to the funded system go to the public Pension Fund ...
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Features
Lessons in how not to do it
One of the most interesting reports to emerge in Ireland following on from the reserve fund announcement by the government appeared in December 2000. Commissioned by the Irish Association of Pension Funds (IAPF), the report by consultancy Shane F Whelan & Co focused on the possible investment strategies that the ...
