Italy roundup: Industry schemes back direct lending fund
Byblos, Alifond, Prevedi, Fondo Pensione Quadri e Capi Fiat, INPGI
Italy: Offering an alternative
Italian pension fund portfolios tend to be less diversified and domestically focused than other European institutional investors. This looks set to change with a turn towards alternatives
ESG makes headway
ESG strategies are becoming more common among Italian pension funds
A pension system renaissance
Italy’s pension system is heading in the right direction
Regulation: Focus on access and tax
Regulatory activity continues, with an emphasis on flexible access to savings and tax advantages
Case Study: Pegaso diversifies
As Pegaso reviews its asset allocation, increased diversification and alternative investments are key topics of discussion
COVIP: Plenty more work to do
Italy’s second-pillar pension system is growing and strengthening, but several areas of concerns remain
Governance: a work in progress
A recent episode involving major Italian pension funds shows how pension fund governance in Italy is still under the spotlight
Bail-in regulations: Questions on rules
First-pillar pension funds for white-collar workers are being treated differently when it comes to protection from bank insolvency
IPE 360: Financial literacy can lower political cost of pension reform
Ex-Italian labour minister says financial literacy is key to successful pension reform
Italy: The EU’s next existential threat?
Italy’s political system has shifted since the early 1990s from one based on traditional parties to an emphasis on personality-based politics
Mandate roundup: NEST makes 'strategic' high yield bond move
Also: Italy’s Fondo Pensione PRIAMO hires BNP Paribas for custody services
ESG integration helps returns, volatility: State Street survey
80% of institutional investors were satisfied or very satisfied with returns from ESG-tilted allocations
Trio of Italian pension funds in €1.8bn merger
New fund will be country’s fifth largest by membership
Aon Hewitt Netherlands to refocus on fiduciary management
Consultancy is also weighing up options for its administration business
Mandate roundup: Foncer, Epap, Enpapi, PKH, Nottinghamshire
Italian pension funds have issued searches for balanced and fixed income managers
Auto-enrolment helps increase Italian pension membership
Regulator Covip reveals double-digit growth in assets for some forms of provision
Resaver to receive first payments in March [amended]
Cross-border plan for researchers gets supervisory approval and EU funding
Italian regulators to scrutinise Intesa interest in Generali
Banking group Intesa and insurer Generali have fund management arms running a total of €700bn
Mandate roundup: FRR, ERAFP, Nutreco, SPT
French reserve fund appoints new ESG managers while civil service fund adds climate change researchers
Italy: Offering an alternative
Italian pension fund portfolios tend to be less diversified and domestically focused than other European institutional investors. This looks set to change with a turn towards alternatives
ESG makes headway
ESG strategies are becoming more common among Italian pension funds
Regulation: Focus on access and tax
Regulatory activity continues, with an emphasis on flexible access to savings and tax advantages
Case Study: Pegaso diversifies
As Pegaso reviews its asset allocation, increased diversification and alternative investments are key topics of discussion
COVIP: Plenty more work to do
Italy’s second-pillar pension system is growing and strengthening, but several areas of concerns remain
LCP: Defined benefit funds are 'fighting for survival'
FTSE 100 companies have pumped £150bn into DB funds in 10 years but large deficits remain
UK roundup: FRC expands Coats pension investigation
Latest monthly private sector DB deficit estimates give contrasting picture
Sponsors 'must review DB terms' after accounting rule change
IAS19 proposal could affect future sponsor contribution levels and viability of buyout plans, consultants warn
Pensions accounting in IASB’s sights as disclosure project takes shape
Accounting body proposes removing choice for sponsors to report interest
Accounting roundup: FRC, GAAP, IFRS, IASB, S&P
UK’s FRC says more work needed before updating GAAP in line with IFRS changes
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Letter from Brussels: Reboot for Capital Markets Union
The European Commission’s “further steps to drive forward the Capital Markets Union (CMU)” outline nine new priority legislative actions to solve the EU’s long-term cross-border investment challenge
Letter from Brussels: EU seeks to avert Brexit arbitrage
Strong words on Brexit are flying in political circles. But behind the theatre, concerns about the future of London’s fund management sector are emerging
Letter from Brussels: A warm reception for PEPP
In contrast to complaints that Brussels’s legislation burdens the financial sector, the European Commission may be gratified by the positive response to its flagship Capital Markets Union (CMU) programme.
Letter from Brussels: Brexit and equivalence
Nothing could be clearer. For the financial sector, at least, there is nothing to fear from Brexit. All the UK has to do is to apply to the EU’s rules – the crucial term ‘equivalence’
Letter from Brussels: Resaver’s first stage kicks off
The European Commission’s project to set up a pension scheme for research and development professionals whose careers take them across EU borders has finally reached its first stages of operation.
Letter from Brussels: Unclear on clearance
The prolongation for 18 months of pension funds’ exemption from posting collateral when trading over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives is leading PensionsEurope to seek clarification.
Letter from Brussels: EU focus on tax tricks
There is increasing attention in Brussels on company reporting, taxation and offshore financial centres. The G20 and some OECD countries have demanded country-by-country reporting rules for multinational companies with a turnover over €750m
Letter from Brussels: Pan-EU private schemes for 2017?
Legislation proposing pan-EU personal pension products (PEPPs) could be tabled in 2017, according to the European Commission
Letter from Brussels: A vision for cross-border workers
A former director of the European Association of Paritarian Institutions (AEIP) has proposed a new option for occupational pensions that could help the large number of workers whose careers take them across EU internal borders.
Letter from Brussels: Weighty in-tray for new CMU commissioner
Valdis Dombrovskis has assumed responsibility as commissioner in charge of the flagship Capital Markets Union project. But he has also assumed the added complication of the withdrawal of the UK
Letter from Brussels: Posted worker woes
It will not be the first time that proposed revisions to EU rules affecting finance and pensions get stuck in a logjam between interests groups
Letter from Brussels: Tax targeting continues
Pressure to clean up the financial sector has led to copious legislation from Brussels.
Letter from Brussels: Ethical pressures mount
There are plenty of indicators of rising pressure to advance ethical standards across the financial sector. One outcome takes the form of mountains of clean-up legislation, including from Brussels.
Letter from Brussels: Beefing up the CMU
Inadequacy of European national court systems in the financial sphere is due for overhaul. Upgrade is necessary if the EU’s capital markets union programme (CMU) is going to get anywhere, according to a high-status paper
Letter from Brussels: Race to upgrade EFSI
Legislative moves to support the EU’s European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) are being rushed through Brussels. But, so far, evidence of any torrent of fund movement by the institutional investment sector across EU frontiers has yet to emerge.
Letter from Brussels: A simmering conflict
Conflict continues to simmer over the issue of passport rights for non-EU-domiciled hedge funds across the EU
Letter from Brussels: A lawyer’s feast
It is a case of tackling one challenge after another in the Capital Markets Union (CMU). According to the European Commission, the present morass of different national insolvency rules creates a barrier to the flow of capital across the EU.
Letter from Brussels: Cross-border challenge for IORP II
IORP II may have cleared the European Parliament’s committee stage but amendments tabled to the second directive covering occupational pensions since 2003 are so radical that it would be unwise to forecast its future.
Letter from Brussels: Focus on low returns
Dismally low returns on EU pension fund investments over 15 years? The allegation comes in a study by Better Finance, the European Federation of Investors & Financial Services Users. The report, Pensions Savings: The Real Return, points to excessive fees, points to other charges, and badly framed taxation rules, as the culprits.
Letter from Brussels: Pressure builds on tax havens
Brussels’ financial focus is on aggressive corporate tax planning and the related question of tax havens. This concerns the hedge fund ‘passport’ rights to do business across the EU and compliance of the offshore jurisdictions where they are domiciled to EU norms.