All Country Report articles – Page 46
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Country Report
Italy: Compulsory membership and education are key to improving pension system
Francesco Vallacqua is a research fellow of Center for Applied Research and Finance (CAREFIN) at Bocconi University of Milan. He has held positions as a consultant to governmental institutions and pension schemes, such as at Cometa, the fund for mechanical engineering industry workers, and is currently a board member of Espero, the teaching professionals’ fund.
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Country Report
Italy: The recovery starts at home for Cometa as it seeks to stabilise its membership
At Cometa, the €7.3bn scheme for workers employed by the metal and mechanical engineering industries, the membership issue is more urgent. The scheme has about 427,000 members, less than half the one million potential members in the sector. The figure is unlikely to rise significantly in 2013 because of the condition of the sector, where factories are closing or laying off workers. So the scheme is focusing on keeping its current members.
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Country Report
Italy: Economic reality bites hard
Job losses and a tough economic environment are forcing pension funds Fonchim and Cometa to review and restructure their investment objectives, writes Carlo Svaluto Moreolo In testing times for the Italian job market, two of the country’s largest pension schemes, Fonchim and Cometa, are gradually adjusting their investment strategies to ...
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Country Report
Italy: ENPAM gets back into gear
Embroiled in a scandal in 2011, has ENPAM now turned the corner? Carlo Svaluto Moreolo reports The ENPAM pension fund for medical professionals published its balance sheet in May, reassuring members that the dark days of the past are finally over. In 2012 the fund recorded a €1.3bn budget surplus ...
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Country Report
Italy: Mangusta Risk advocates pension funds spend more time on passive portfolios
Any adviser, large or small, would have seen an opportunity when the Italian pension market opened up less than 20 years ago, with the establishment of many new medium and large-sized pension schemes.
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Country Report
Switzerland: Rights and responsibilities
Nina Rohrbein analyses the consequences for Swiss pension funds, their advisers and asset managers of the referendum on executive pay
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Country Report
Switzerland: Magic number crunching
Swiss pension funds have enjoyed a major recovery in the funding levels over the past months. But the fundamental problems remain, writes Barbara Ottawa
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Country Report
Switzerland: Funds play catch-up
David Pauls and Peter Zanella argue that Swiss pension funds must keep up with underlying economic and demographic reality, and that policy makers should stop moving the goalposts
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Country Report
Switzerland: Smart on beta benchmarks
Swiss pension funds have mostly shied away from alternatively weighted benchmark strategies. Cécile Sourbes finds that adoption will depend on thorough analysis and transparency of data
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Country Report
Switzerland: New challenges for asset managers
Richard Bruyère presents the results of Image & Finance’s latest research covering the institutional market in Switzerland
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Country Report
Switzerland: Cage fight against complacency
Some think the second pillar is perfect, so 17 years ago four people set out to challenge that view with an innovative approach and an international viewpoint. Innovation Zweite Säule co-founder Werner Nussbaum tells Barbara Ottawa about challenges past and present
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Country Report
Turkey: Diversification prizes
Private pension asset growth will lead to opportunities for global custodians, according to Iain Morse
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Country Report
Turkey: Growth assets for the future
Pension providers are capitalising on recent liberalisation to launch gold and corporate bond funds, says Reeta Paakkinen
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Country Report
Turkey: Pensions growth ahead
Reform to channel severance payments to the workplace supplementary pensions would mean exponential growth for the Turkish pension sector, writes Reeta Paakkinen
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Country Report
Nordic Region: Under one roof
By bringing asset management in-house, Skandia aims to bring new products to the market, says Pirkko Juntunen
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Country Report
Nordic Region: A lone rider?
Is the closure of Swedish energy company Vattenfall’s pension foundation a one-off or the shape of things to come? Nina Röhrbein reports
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Country Report
Nordic Region: What one hand taketh…
Changes to discount rates will favour Norwegian pension sponsors, writes Rachel Fixsen. Yet the introduction of dynamic mortality tables will require an increase in reserves
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Country Report
Nordic Region: Funds go global
Despite a positive 2012, the country’s pension funds are allocating more investments beyond the troubled borders of the euro-zone as they seek to improve returns, says Reeta Paakkinen
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Country Report
France: Paving the way for responsible investment
The Fonds de Réserve pour les Retraites has undergone a radical strategy reshape following the 2010 pension reform and volatile equity markets in 2011. And 2013 will be action-packed, writes Cécile Sourbes
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Country Report
France: The search for yield
Richard Bruyère presents the results of Image & Finance’s 12th annual research covering the institutional market
