All Features articles – Page 246
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Features
Pooling is now on the agenda
The UK custody and securities services market continues to be one of the most competitive in Europe and can still attract new players. BNP Paribas Securities Services and KAS Bank are the latest European players to take on the dominance of the big US banks. These relative newcomers are not ...
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Features
Ask the expert systems
Over 30 years ago, the US economist Benjamin Graham distinguished two basic approaches to investing – qualitative and quantitative. In his book ‘The intelligent investor’, he wrote: “The first or predictive approach could also be called the qualitative approach, since it emphasises prospects, management and other non-measurable, although highly important, ...
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Features
Pragma assesses new EU members
The 10 new EU member states ought to encourage defined benefit-type pension schemes and introduce three-pillar systems, according to a report from Brussels-based consultant Pragma. Nine international institutions, including the two largest Dutch pension schemes ABP and PGGM, sponsored the EU-wide study. It aimed to give the new members’ reserves ...
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Features
Law change backs pension funds
Austrian pension funds and private equity are not an obvious fit. For a start - in terms of private equity investing as a whole - Austria comes near the bottom of the European league. Just 0.051% of Austrian gross domestic product was invested in private equity in 2003, the latest ...
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Features
Currency and behaviour
Portfolio investors have progressively accepted the argument that international diversification provides risk/return benefits. However, the currency dimension has remained an emotional issue and currency hedging is a sensitive decision. Attractive local-currency returns on foreign asset market can be swamped by a depreciation of the foreign currency. Conversely, the return on ...
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Features
Belgians seek level playing field
The body advising Belgian minister Bruno Tobback on pensions issues is to consider a legal formula to create a level playing field between new sector-wide pension funds being established under the socalled Vandenbroucke Law (VDB) and pension insurance companies. In the formative period the new pension funds are not legal ...
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Features
Investment boost to innovation
APK Pensionskasse is a multi-employer pension fund with around 65,000 members. It manages 20 plans, the plan sponsors typically being industrial corporations. APK runs e1.8bn of plan assets, with about 1% of the portfolio invested in private equity. The pension fund has been investing in the asset class since 2001. ...
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Features
Bridging the gap
Before they were united in the 19th century both Germany and Italy were described as geographic expressions rather than countries. There are those who suggest that the same thing might be said now of Belgium. Throughout the second half of the 20th century the central government responded to friction between ...
