Asset Allocation – Page 252
-
Features
Swedes mass migrate to DC
The transformation of the Swedish pension system since the mid 1990s is perhaps the most comprehensive endorsement of the defined contribution (DC) scheme in Europe. More than two million people have been moved into second pillar contribution-based plans in the space of five or six years. The first pillar has ...
-
Features
Pensions to drive future of funds
The Italian fund management industry has been among the most attractive markets in Europe for quite some time, but this picture is changing slightly. The extraordinary growth that this industry experienced during the last decade has significantly slowed down, according to a study published by London-based FERI Fund Market Information ...
-
Features
Inflation fears stalk Euroland recovery
The recent spate of optimism in Euroland’s equity markets is beginning to wane as inflationary fears keep resurfacing. “I have very little confidence in the equity markets at the moment. It’s not that the markets are doing badly, but they have become somewhat stagnant. Until the ECB increases rates and ...
-
Features
Market-friendly faces needed
Hungary’s change of government following the April elections heralds more changes for the pensions industry. The centre-right Fidesz government of prime minister Victor Orban lost by a narrow majority to the Hungarian Socialist Party/Alliance of Free Democrats coalition headed by former finance minister Peter Medgyessy. Although left of centre on ...
-
Features
Second pillar funds still have to overcome timing
Hungarian mandatory and voluntary pension funds have broadly similar investment limits, with two exceptions. Second pillar funds, unlike third-pillar ones, cannot invest directly into real estate (although they can do so through real estate investment units). They also have a 50% maximum limit on equity investment against 60% for third-pillar ...
-
Features
Risk tools are to hand
With the increasing globalisation of investment, the growing complexity in instruments and the rise of alternative investment strategies, there is a greater need than ever for investors to be able to measure, monitor and control their risks. In addition to traditional measures such as tracking error and benchmarks, over the ...
-
Features
'IKEA of pensions insurance'
The pension insurance society for Sweden’s central government employees, commonly known as Kåpan, is currently at the centre of a switch from DB to DC systems. Kåpan, whose official name is FSO, was started 10 years ago to provide pension insurance for 220,000 members of three leading trade unions. In ...
-
Features
Immunising the pensions at risk
In the face of market volatility and accounting standards, notably FRS17, pensions funds are showing increasing interest in ‘immunising’ their portfolios from the series of risks that they face – principally interest risk, inflation risk and market risk The most publicised example of this, so far, has been the decision ...
-
Features
Need to tap into wider information
A once-in-a-lifetime change has taken place in the behaviour of share prices since late 1998. Individual share price volatility has risen to levels markedly higher than at any previous time bar a brief period in the mid-1970s. This change has had a direct impact on portfolio risk levels – nearly ...
-
Features
Integrale's long track record
Belgium has a long tradition of pension provision that has undergone many reforms through the years. Some players have been present in this market since its very early days, adapting themselves to the different social environments. Liège-based Integrale is one of them. Decades ago the way the Belgian state managed ...
-
Features
Italian moves stalled
The pensions reform package to the closed pensions market in Italy has run into trouble and is unlikely to be passed, warns Roberto Casanova at Milan-based financial consultants IAMA Consulting. Were the package passed, IAMA predicts assets under management in the closed pension fund industry will grow from E3.6bn to ...
-
Features
'Jigsaw pieces in place'
If the European Court of Justice follows the opinion of the advocate general in the Danner v Finland case on pensions taxation, this would be the first attempt made to abolish all obstacle relating to pensions tax issues. This view was expressed by Leonardo Sforza of consultants Hewitt Associates at ...
-
Features
Sobering long-term view
The ‘Golden 90s’ for equities are definitely over. In the mean time, most investors have recognised that the sooner we put the past decade behind us, the better off we will be at the end of the next decade. Equity markets across Europe have fallen sharply over the past two ...
-
Features
Making pensions popular
Simplification was the topic firmly on the agenda at the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) annual conference in Brighton. “The pendulum has swung too far in favour of regulation and complexity”, Alistair Darling, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions told the conference. Hardly a day goes by without ...
-
Features
Market stuck in a rut
Hopes for a significant recovery in the UK equity markets this year have all but disappeared. Investor responses to negative news in the telecommunications sector have been surprisingly bearish, say strategists. If this attitude persists, market levels are bound to stay depressed, they say. Shares of companies in old economy ...
-
Features
Taking the slow road to reform
The development of the Italian pension fund industry has slowed down. Political discussions regarding the reform of the system, changes in the labour market and the never-ending negotiations about the transfer of the TFR into pensions, have increased uncertainty about the future growth of the industry. According to a recent ...
