CEE: Pensions and Investment News and Analysis
Latest news and analysis of pensions, asset management, regulation and trends in Central and Eastern Europe from our award-winning journalists.
Institutional investors see geopolitical bad actors as 2024 economic threat
Institutional investors have ‘good reason for concern’ as the geopolitical landscape is looking ‘less stable going into 2024’, says Natixis research
The Netherlands returns to top spot in Mercer CFA Institute Global Pension Index
The index report also examined the potential of artificial intelligence to improve pension and social security systems
PZU TFI: Building the future of Polish pensions
Marcin Żółtek (pictured), CEO of PZU TFI, one of Poland’s largest managers of DC pension savings, tells Jakub Janas and Carlo Svaluto Moreolo about the firm’s role in the Polish pension system
Country Report – Pensions in Central & Eastern Europe (January 2023)
Poland’s PPK auto-enrolment system marks its fourth anniversary this month. It can hardly be described as a complete success given the participation rate is stuck at just over a third of the working population. Some initial projections foresaw a 70% takeup level. But with assets approaching €2.5bn and rapidly growing, there is a sense that this is a relatively good outcome for a country with no tradition of independent retirement saving and where the previous second pillar system was radically overhauled just a few years ago, leaving ordinary citizens confused and mistrustful.
Ukraine: The mother of all impact investments
Institutional investors can play a crucial role in rebuilding Ukraine in a post-war future
Might Ukraine’s distressed assets one day look attractive to pension funds?
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has tested Europe’s political and economic resolve. But where Vladimir Putin attempted to sow discord, he instead has failed to divide the West.
Country Report – Pensions in Central & Eastern Europe (January 2023)
Poland’s PPK auto-enrolment system marks its fourth anniversary this month. It can hardly be described as a complete success given the participation rate is stuck at just over a third of the working population. Some initial projections foresaw a 70% takeup level. But with assets approaching €2.5bn and rapidly growing, there is a sense that this is a relatively good outcome for a country with no tradition of independent retirement saving and where the previous second pillar system was radically overhauled just a few years ago, leaving ordinary citizens confused and mistrustful.
Central & Eastern Europe: Poland’s qualified success with auto enrolment
Participation in the PPK auto-enrolment remains stable if relatively low and assets are growing steadily
Central & Eastern Europe: Kosovo Pensions Trust’s journey to maturity
10% contribution rate is low for the Balkans and changes could be afoot
Central & Eastern Europe: Tax breaks boost Romania’s pensions
Challenges remain as critics eye poor investment performance
Central & Eastern Europe: Lithuania’s growing interest in alternatives
Local funds would like to see a more diverse range of domestic investment opportunities, including through more local listings
Central & Eastern Europe: Will Bulgaria seize the PEPP opportunity?
Bulgaria’s DC pension system should face up to the PEPP
CEE data
Second-pillar pensions in Central & Eastern Europe
Private equity investments in CEE poised for strong growth
CEE countries show consistent outperformance, compared to Western Europe, according to Bain research
CEE private equity: in search of capital
War in Ukraine is just one factor deterring investment in private equity and growth capital in Central and Eastern Europe
Top 500 Asset Managers 2022
The emergence of persistent higher inflation, China’s zero-COVID policy, stress on global supply chains, and Russia’s Ukraine war all suggest that the asset total of this year’s IPE Top 500 Asset Managers Guide represents a high water mark.
Outlook: Future of hydrocarbons
The OECD remains critically dependent on Russian oil and gas – and finding alternative sources will be very hard
Notes from the Nordics: Finland on the frontier
Fear and uncertainty are rattling markets, but financial concerns are dwarfed by the human suffering caused by the war in Ukraine. In Finland, people have particular reason to worry due to the country’s long land border with Russia.
Fixed income, rates & currencies: War and inflation dominate
While we watch horrible scenes of towns and cities under bombardment, their bewildered and bloodied citizens desperately searching for safety, the huge shockwaves generated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine are spreading rapidly far beyond both countries’ borders.
Ukraine & Russia: Asset allocation and investing in a time of war
It is a well-known fact that geopolitical events have no lasting impact on financial markets. However, Russian president Vladimir Putin’s decision to wage war on Ukraine has forced institutional investors to reassess their strategies. While stock market indices tend to recover fairly soon after the initial shock of a geopolitical event, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine has potentially wide-ranging consequences beyond a sudden spike in volatility.
Germany's debate on pension reform edges forward
The war in Ukraine, an unspeakable human tragedy, is forcing governments around Europe to reset international relations and find new partners to secure energy sources. The invasion has strongly tested the intent of the new German government to break with the previous administrations of Angela Merkel.
Viewpoint: Invasion reactions show pension funds are more than investors
Before the Russian government’s decision to invade Ukraine at the end of February, the exposure of European pension funds to Russian assets was relatively low, and in some cases non-existent. Nevertheless, those funds that did invest in Russia acted quickly to reassess their exposure and divest from Russia entirely when possible, given the treacherous market conditions.
The Ukraine war and what it means for pension funds
A health check for pension funds as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine raises questions about diversification and energy
Country Report – Pensions in Central & Eastern Europe (January 2022)
A combination of poor policy decisions and conservative asset allocations have conspired to stifle the development of supplementary pensions in the CEE region since the widespread adoption of the World Bank’s three-pillar model in the 1990s, as IPE Editor Liam Kennedy writes in this issue.
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