Asset Allocation – Page 254
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Features
UK pension funds report second year of negative returns
UK pension funds reported the worst returns last year for more than a decade, according to performance measurement consultants WM Company. WM says it is the second consecutive year of negative returns, the first time this has happened since it began its UK pension fund survey in the mid 1970s. ...
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Features
Taking a long and hard look
Despite a tough year marked by investment underperformance, it wasn’t all bad news in the development of the Irish pensions industry during 2001. First there was the announcement of the tendering process for the C7bn National Pensions Reserve Fund (NPRF) and, a few weeks later the publication of the Pensions ...
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Features
Isle of Man's international package
On 1 January the Isle of Man took an important step towards becoming a key jurisdiction for international pension schemes. The Retirement Benefits Schemes (International Schemes) Regulations 2001 came into effect, creating a framework that enables IoM government- approved international retirement benefits schemes, catering for non-resident members or individuals, to ...
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Features
What next for investment?
Despite declines in the markets, equity investments were here to stay and investors should focus on the long term and stick to their strategic asset allocation. This was the message from panel members discussing their first topic of the session, namely, the future of the equity culture and focussing on ...
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Features
Opening up third pillar market
The long awaited Irish Pension Bill was finally published in July last year, providing for the introduction of Personal Retirement Savings Accounts (PRSAs). This new step was welcome by the industry as a good means of promoting the further development of the Irish market for retirement. There had been criticism, ...
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Features
Wait for rout to be over
Plagued by serious structural problems, Japan is still a market for only the bravest of investors. Things can’t get much worse, strategists say. But is this necessarily an argument that improvement is on the horizon? Among the optimistic voices, Mike Collins, chief strategist with Pictet Asset Management in London, says ...
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Features
Consolidation hints abound
In line with most other European exchanges those of eastern and central Europe have suffered a disappointing year. Although traditionally less dependent on hi-tech stocks, nonetheless they caught a cold when the larger western exchanges caught a cold earlier this year. There are, nonetheless, some bright spots with at least ...
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Features
Troubled times for allocation
High volatility stress tests a strategic asset allocation. The dispersion of returns across managers will likely be wider and the dispersion of returns across the peer group against which the plan sponsor is judged will also likely be wider. Other events associated with high-risk environments greatly increase the chance of ...
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Features
German pensions and the 'average' pensioner
Within the scope of the German pension reform (the “Riester-Rente”, named after labour minister Walter Riester) there will be a reduction of the state pension from 70% to 67% of the last net income after a complete career. The gap will be filled by additional tax relief for private savings ...
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Features
Benchmarks are for beating
There was a time when British university lecturers carried around bundles of individual life assurance policies accumulated throughout their careers as part of their retirement arrangements. By the mid-1970s, the folly of this approach had become apparent, leading to the establishment of the Universities Superannuation Scheme. It is now the ...
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Features
Currency change set to boost stocks
The physical introduction of the euro this month, when households, businesses and retail banks will start using and trading in euro-denominated bank notes and coins, is likely to have a positive effect on Europe’s equity markets, analysts agree “Though it is difficult to say what kind of impact the changeover ...
