All articles by Barbara Ottawa – Page 61
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News
German cooperatives fund to diversify away from fixed income
GERMANY – The €300m German pensionskasse for cooperatives (Pensionskasse der Genossenschaftsorganisation) has changed its fixed-income portfolio in the wake of the financial crisis and is considering further asset diversification.
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News
Austrian funds increase equity allocation in Q1
AUSTRIA – Official figures for the first quarter performance show a significant increase in the equity holdings of Austrian pensionskassen, which are the subject of further reform proposals.
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NewsAba calls for greater German Pensionsfonds flexibility
GERMANY – Pensionfonds will not thrive in Germany unless they are subject to less bureacracy and more regulatory flexibility, members of the German pension fund association Aba have argued.
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News
IAS 19 proposals would drive down risk appetite – Towers Watson
GERMANY – Proposed changes to the accounting standards for pension benefits (IAS 19) could leave German schemes more risk-averse and increase the implicit costs for insolvency protection PSV, Alfred Gohdes, head of actuarial consulting at Towers Watson in Frankfurt noted.
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News
Romanian austerity measures threaten second pillar
ROMANIA – The Romanian finance ministry is seeking to cut the contribution rate to the second pillar from 2.5% to 0.5%, but is facing opposition from the country’s pensions industry.
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News
Austria needs pension simplification not guarantees, experts warn
AUSTRIA – More guarantees in Austria's second pillar would serve only to complicate the system and fuel public doubts, according to advisory and academic experts.
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News
Deutsche Post employs niche active managers for Pensionfonds
GERMANY – Deutsche Post’s recently established Pensionsfonds has employed active managers for its small-cap equities and commodities investments, but has so far shied away from alternative investments, according to group pensions director Benedikt Köster.
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News
Swiss funds shying from their core business – Profond
SWITZERLAND – Swiss Pensionskassen are shying away from longevity risk by outsourcing pensioners and switching to DC, a trend criticised by Herbert Brändli, head of the multi-employer fund Profond.
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News
Only 1 in 10 Swiss funds has sufficient buffer – Swisscanto
SWITZERLAND – The majority of Swiss pensions funds have recovered to full funding levels, but only 10% have repaired their buffers, according to Swisscanto.
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News
MAN turns pensions into savings plan
GERMANY – The transport engineering group MAN has created a new retirement provision plan, eliminating all longevity risks.
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News
German employers propose simplified solvency levy
GERMANY – The German federation of employer representatives (BDA) is suggesting a simplified alternative to its proposal for a risk-based levy to the German pension insolvency fund PSV.
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NewsAba pushes for separate pension supervisor
GERMANY – The German government has been urged by the country's occupational pension association (Aba) to create a separate entity for pension supervision.
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News
BPK under pressure to make DC switch
SWITZERLAND – The public pension fund of the Swiss canton of the capital city Bern, Bernische Pensionskasse (BPK), is under pressure from member companies to speed up its move away from a defined benefit (DB) scheme to a defined contribution (DC) arrangement.
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News
BVV to diversify through commodities
GERMANY – The €20.9bn BVV Pensionskasse for German banks saw returns from its bond-heavy portfolio drop last year and is now seeking to increase its diversification by investing in commodities.
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News
Low contributions create illusion for young workers – MetallRente
GERMANY – Contributions to pension funds by young people are too low and are seldom increased over time, a survey commissioned by the German metal industry pension fund MetallRente found.
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News
Most Swiss trustees held their nerve during the crisis
SWITZERLAND - Close to 90% of Swiss pension funds reviewed their asset allocation following the financial crisis, but only 67% made any subsequent changes, according to a trustee survey conducted at the Fachmesse zweite Saüle conference this week.
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News
Swiss law protecting pensioners' benefits should be changed - Deprez
SWITZERLAND - The inclusion of pensioner benefits in recovery measures for underfunded pension funds was the subject of intense debate at an industry conference today.
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News
German pension funds need more credit research - WPV
GERMANY – The €1.4bn German Versorgungswerk for chartered accountants WPV plans to continue to decrease its exposure bank-related fixed income investments, but will have to seek external advice to do so.
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Features
BVK’s new risk criteria
Liquidity is now a key issue for the €43.2bn Bayerische Versorgungskammer (BVK), Germany’s largest institutional investor, but the fund is not shying away from diversification.
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News
Crisis causes delay for BiH second pillar
BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA – Plans for the creation of a second pillar in Bosnia-Herzegovina (BiH) have been drawn up but the current economic situation will delay its implementation until at least 2011.
