All articles by Barbara Ottawa – Page 64
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Seven in 10 voted against Swiss conversion rate cut
SWITZERLAND – Almost 73% of voters rejected a proposal in a Swiss referendum yesterday to cut the conversion rate on Swiss second pillar pensions.
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Competition forces Delta Lloyd to withdraw from German pensions market
GERMANY/NETHERLANDS – The German life insurance and Pensionskassen business of Dutch Delta Lloyd will not be taking on any new clients.
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SBB gets CHF1.148bn in state aid
SWITZERLAND – The Swiss government has decided to grant the ailing Swiss federal railways (SBB) Pensionskasse CHF1.148bn (€784.5m) in aid if, in return, the fund drops all demands for a state guarantee on full funding.
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Pension fund trust in external management 'has returned'
AUSTRIA/GERMANY – Asset managers saw major outflows from institutional investors in 2008, but some pension funds are now expected to increase the share of externally-managed assets in their portfolios.
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IMF wants higher fees in Romanian second pillar
ROMANIA – The IMF has made a list of reforms it wants to see in the mandatory Romanian second pillar, including higher fees, but some of the demands are unnecessary, according to experts at the pension fund association, APAPR.
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ASIP hopes for mood change on Swiss referendum
SWITZERLAND – The Swiss pension fund association ASIP is "hoping for a mood swing" in public opinion, just days before the Swiss referendum on the pension conversion rate, its president Christoph Ryter has told IPE.
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ÖPAG rebrands as Valida Pension
[15:45 CET 01-03] AUSTRIA – Valida is the new name for the retirement holding and its subsidiaries like ÖPAG, officials announced today.
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Share of long-only investments will reduce – APK
[16:00 CET 26-02] AUSTRIA – Officials at the Austrian multi-employer pension fund APK say the crisis has led them to move its assets further away from long-only benchmark investment, although the old investment categories will still continue to exist.
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Swiss AHV seeks consultant ahead of asset search
[16:55 CET 25-02] SWITZERLAND – The Swiss first pillar buffer fund AHV is looking for an investment consultant to take over a wide range of services including looking at “new asset classes” and providing “forecast analysis”.
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NewsSlovakia amends its pension investment rules
SLOVAKIA – The Slovak government has proposed minor changes to the investment regulations for second pillar pension funds, to comply with EU legislation.
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Germany's BVK returns 4.5% after rebuilding reserve
[16:10 CET 23-02] GERMANY – The Bayerische Versorgungskammer (BVK) reported a 4.5% return on its assets after filling its reserves – but not “for reserves sake”, the pension vehicle told IPE.
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Swiss banks pay most into pension plans – Towers Watson
[15:45 CET 23-02] SWITZERLAND – A study by Towers Watson of the pension schemes at 20 SMI-Index blue-chip Swiss companies has found the best Swiss pension schemes pay out twice as much as the worst ranked.
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Union reports record year for institutional business
[17:10 CET 19-02] GERMANY – Union Investment saw its institutional business soar by over 20% to a record high in 2009, fuelled by investor demand for risk management and value protection, according to board member Alexander Schindler.
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AKA calls for legal certainty in German provincial pensions
[16:50 CET 18-02] GERMANY - A key figure at the German association of local and church pension schemes (AKA) has claimed postponing funded pension schemes because of the financial crisis could be detrimental to trust in the pensions system.
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MetallRente and Nokia/Siemens 'content' with 2009 returns
[16:30 CET 18-02] GERMANY – The CTA of the Nokia Siemens Networks achieved a 7.3% return on investments last year while the multi-employer scheme MetallRente managed between 4.5% and 5.1% in 2009.
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Germany's BVK to increase external management
GERMANY – BVK, the €45bn collective retirement vehicle for over 1.5 million self-employed people and employees in Bavaria, will be fine-tuning each one of its 12 portfolios as part of changes to its strategic asset allocation (SAA) and increasing external management.
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Austrian company funds enjoy a better year
[15:45 CET 16-02] AUSTRIA – Official figures from the Österreichische Kontrollbank have confirmed that Austrian Pensionskassen generated a 9% average return in 2009, as equity equalled return.
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NewsAba dismisses idea for fund-based pensions as counterproductive
GERMANY – The German investment federation (BVI) has unveiled proposals for investment fund-based occupational pensions which could lead to further self-management of the second pillar. But the pension fund association aba has warned it is sceptical of the new idea.
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Brandenburg starts to fund pension
[16:45 CET 11-02] GERMANY – The German province of Brandenburg will start filling its pension fund for civil servants this year.
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Swiss pension plans to maintain strategy for good returns
[15:15 CET 10-02] SWITZERLAND – The Pensionskasse for the city of Zurich (PKZH) and the Profond multi-employer fund say they have no plans to change their strategic asset allocation in the near future, after achieving strong returns in 2009.
