Asset Allocation – Page 336
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Features
Dutch funds get taste for equities
Rachel Fixsen finds a shift away from the safety of bonds
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Features
Russia puts funds on firmer footing
Russian investment funds, illegitimately described as pensions funds will be forced to drop the name, when a pensions bill, strengthening the Russian pensions inspectorate and currently progressing through the Duma, becomes law. Russia’s 200 non-state pension funds involving the savings of 1.5 million Russians will also b e given a ...
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Features
Italian pension funds on standby
Over 800 hundred pension funds, created by Italian banks, insurance companies and mutual funds are awaiting the final decree in a series issued by the Italian government since the start of the year which will officially set up private pension provision. This decree, which is considered the most important is ...
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Features
Getting Japan's weighting right
The traditional methods of setting a weight for Japan in international portfolios have given investors a false idea of the market’s significance, argues John Morrell
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Features
Norway: Phillips widens horizons
Phillips Petroleum in Norway is looking for investments beyond the domestic bond market, because of the relatively flat prospects for growth this year, but it currently holds the maximum allowed for domestic and in-ternational equity portfolios. The fund, which manages approximately $200m, has 70% of its holdings in domestic bonds, ...
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Features
Irish start on pensions reform
Ireland has taken the first step towards reform of its occupational pensions sector with the launch of the National Pensions Policy Initiative. The publication, on the 13 February, of a 72-page government document setting out possible policy courses marked the start of a national consultation exercise. The deadline for responses ...
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Features
Spanish regulations delayed again
The appointment of a new director general to the Spanish Insurance Directorate could delay publication of regulations required by companies to comply with a 1995 Spanish pensions law. Under the law, the deadline for conversion from book reserves to externally funded schemes is May 1999, but the appointment of Pilar ...
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Features
The mixture as before
With UK pension funds holding a larger share of their assets in equities last year the long-awaited shift to bonds isn’t happening. Or is it?
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Features
Blind dates for euro party players
France will. Spain and Portugal would love to. And the UK can’t decide. Jason Crosland reports on the arduous process in preparing to meet the monetary and fiscal demands of the euro
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Features
Japan: Time to join Japanese bulls as currency fears ease
We believe the Japanese equity market will bottom out this quarter in its present range (Nikkei 18,000 and Topix 1,400). The market should find its feet during the first quarter and will be significantly more buoyant through the summer. The market has trended downward because market sentiment is overly depressed. ...
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Features
Misplaced 'EMU-phoria' could result in bumpy ride
Andrew Gillies discusses the clouds on the horizon for pension funds
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Features
The king of the cash mountain
Siemens feel they have reached the end of the line with the book reserve system. Herbert Lohneiss tells Fennell Betson why he is not satisfied. At Siemens, they reckon they have gone as far as they can to funding the group’s enormous pensions provisions under the book reserve system. But ...
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Features
Switzerland: Caution and consolidation are watch words
After market increases of 25% in 1995 and 19% in 1996, Swiss analysts are urging caution. “We advise some hedging of positions after last year,” says Bert Röegsegger, head of research at ATAG Asset Management in Berne, “though we are also advising investors not to sell”. Increased profits for Swiss ...
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Features
Swiss chafe at overseas limit
Swiss pension fund managers who outperformed the Swiss market last year hope to do so again in 1997, but are concerned about prospective levels of returns. The approach will need to be highly selective, says one manager. His favoured stocks are pharmaceuticals and fi-nancials, and he has plans to increase ...
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Features
Steer clear of US, warns Lombard Odier
Our main investment assumption, of a more balanced world growth, estimated at 2.5% for OECD countries, stems from the economic recoveries expected in Japan and Eur-ope, together with more moderate US expansion. We expect inflation to remain pretty much under control, despite gradually increasing wage pressures in the US and ...
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Features
USA: Looking to the long term come what may
If you were a US pension manager faced with the rise and rise of the US market, what would your domestic equity strategy be? Three plan sponsors have come up with responses that are surprisingly uniform despite their contrasting styles. The giant $105bn CALPERS has 80% of its $43bn US ...
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Features
International competition puts focus on pension costs
Global competition made maximising long-term investment returns on pensions assets a key priority for multinational employers, according to Gert van Bezooyen, head of corporate pensions at Philips International in Eindhoven. “Excellent performance is what we are looking for as we approach the 21st century, taking into account the global competitive ...
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Features
UK: Discounting the election
The general election’s impact on the markets will be limited but, according to UK analysts, it will mark a dividing line for activity in both the bond and equity markets. Whoever wins will inherit a relatively benign economic picture. At Commerzbank in London, treasurer and deputy general manager Jean-Michael D’Oultremont ...
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Features
Moderate expectations and a tilt to equities
In ABN AMRO’s asset allocation for the first quarter, we overweight equities and underweight bonds and cash. For 1997, we expect, on average, economic growth to be moderate, while inflation will remain at a relatively low level. This outlook is not only justified by the most recent cyclical indicators but ...
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Features
Feeling the heat
British pension fund managers themselves say they are shying away from the UK stock market as the year begins, amid worries that equities are overvalued. The economy may overheat around general election time, raising concerns about inflation which could in turn lead to a burst of monetary tightening later on, ...
