Investors up dissent over Swiss corporate governance, pay
More shareholders withheld support from resolutions at general meetings
Aon wins cross-border fiduciary mandate for Swiss company
Geneva-headquartered company says approach cuts risk for $1.5bn pensions
Swiss investor plans $50m private debt allocation via IPE Quest
Discovery search DS-2328 seeks manager for co-investment mandate
Swiss postal scheme joins mortgage-lending trend
Mortgages to scheme members and third parties seen as attractive alternative to low-yielding bonds
Pension fund seeks Swiss small/mid cap managers via IPE Quest
Active and passive mandates sought, totalling between CHF350m and CHF650m
DACH roundup: Austrian energy company sells pension fund
Even fewer company-operated Pensionskassen remain in Austria
SwissRe's $130bn benchmark change ‘most meaningful’ step in ESG shift
Reinsurer has replaced traditional benchmarks with ESG benchmarks for its entire portfolio
Mandate roundup: LGPS readies passive investment framework
Framework agreement backed by some of Access pool members but open to others
CERN seeks external expert for investment committee
Candidate should have ‘board level experience and a good working knowledge of investment committees’
Basel pension fund reveals details of alternatives strategy
PKBS hired Goldman Sachs, BioMed Partners, and IFR, and has invested directly in gold
Consultancy floats Swiss 'time-limited' pension pay-out model
Falling conversion rates prompt proposal for flexible decumulation from Willis Towers Watson
ESG roundup: Publica, North Rhine-Westphalia, AP2
Swiss and German funds take action to divest from companies; AP2 backs Dutch housing bond
Swiss pension fund tenders $150m EMD mandate via IPE Quest
Blended strategy for investing in sovereign bonds sought
German and Swiss investors diverge on alternatives strategies
Diversification of alternatives portfolios is important, but not always possible, conference hears
Swiss investors add CHF50bn of sustainable investments in a year
Number of participants in FNG survey more than triples to 14, assets under management reaches CHF104bn
Nestlé shakes up global pension management operations
All regional operations affected in management overhaul that has seen internal asset managers stripped of mandates
Swiss pension fund seeks passive equities manager via IPE Quest
Mandate is for CHF150m (€137m)
Pensions In Switzerland: Make or break
The referendum in September will decide the fate of the Swiss pension reform package. Barbara Ottawa analyses the first stages of the political campaigns leading up to the vote
Lombard Odier Pension Fund: A blueprint for multi-asset
Lombard Odier Pension Fund has developed an innovative multi-asset approach based on absolute return and diversification
Asset Allocation: Ticino maintains aim
Pierre Spocci, director of the Istituto di Previdenza del Cantone Ticino, tells Carlo Svaluto Moreolo about the pension fund’s stable strategy
Good governance boosts returns
Best practice in governance has been shown to produce above-average investment returns, say Manuel Ammann and Christian Ehmann
Asset Allocation: When diversification fails
What do Swiss pension funds do when risk budgets are stretched and diversification has failed? Barbara Ottawa reports
Fees: Clear on management costs
Ueli Mettler and Benita von Lindeiner examine the difficult question of costs in Switzerland’s second-pillar pension system
Pensions In Switzerland: Parliamentary ping pong
A political stalemate is holding up Switzerland’s Altersvorsorge 2020 pensions reform package. And now time is running out, as Barbara Ottawa finds
Asset Allocation: Curves, currency and costs
More than anywhere else, the low and negative interest rate environment is shaping Swiss portfolios. But investment challenges are quite particular, finds Barbara Ottawa
Financial Sustainability: Are there enough assets?
Lukas Riesen and Stephan Skaanes ask whether Swiss pension funds can financially afford their promises
Sector slams government proposals for regulation on Switzerland's 1e plans
An initial government proposal for a regulation on self-guided top-up pension plans for high earners has been slammed
Swiss market liquidity: Anything left to drink?
Robert Cranston assesses liquidity trends in Swiss markets
Digital Edition
Registered users are entitled to the first digital issue of IPE with the compliments of the IPE.com team.
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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.