All Features articles – Page 407
-
Features
New channel in and out of equity markets
While past efforts to harmonise clearing and settlement and other related market practices across the rest of Continental Europe have been fitful at best, the four markets of the Nordic region – Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway – have on the whole tended to be far better disposed towards regional ...
-
Features
Clydesdale: in from the cold
Ask clients to name potential custody providers, and until very recently the odds would have been heavily stacked against the name Clydesdale Bank figuring very high on any list of candidates, if indeed it was to be found at all. Despite having offered domestic trustee and custody services for some ...
-
Features
Collaborative effort
As many of the Netherlands’ Industry-wide pension funds split their administrative and investment management departments, there’s a hub in Rijswijk where exactly the opposite is underway. Five company schemes and one Industry-wide pension fund, who last year announced they were launching a cooperative, have taken delivery of the keys to ...
-
Features
Growing market for commodity indices
As equity returns have slumped, so the appeal of alternative investments has risen. Commodities in particular are seen by many as having advantages not just in terms of diversification, but also as assets which can produce solid growth. In this environment, Standard & Poor’s has lauched its new commodities index. ...
-
Features
Weighing up critical mass
Size will matter for providers in the new pensions market in Germany, says Commerzbank Securities (ComSec) in a research paper, German Pensions – racing for a bigger prize. ComSec believes that critical mass will become important, since Germany’s new private pensions are low-margin, large-scale products. In addition, ComSec points out ...
-
Features
Custodians' pivotal role
Cash is trash, the investment gurus have always told us, a maxim that reflects the widely-held view that cash should have a very limited part to play in any serious asset allocation strategy. Until recently, cash was seen as a relatively unimportant asset class, ranking well behind equities and bonds ...
-
Features
Equal treatment threat to DB
A new proposed directive from the EU is, in my view, potentially much more important for pension schemes than the pensions directive itself. The directive on establishing a General Framework for Equal Treatment in Employment and Occupation could have far reaching implications for pension scheme design across the EU. This ...
-
Features
Finnish unions reach last-ditch deal
Finnish labour organisations have reached a last-ditch agreement on reform of the country’s first-pillar TEL pensions system, although some confusion remains as to the nature and timing of some of the reforms. The Finnish government had threatened Finnish social partners that if they could not agree on the changes to ...
-
Features
Pensions reform derailed
The 11 September terrorist attack has changed the scenario for US pension reform, but it is not yet clear in which direction. Critics of social security privatisation say the stock market downturn shows how risky the proposal is. Supporters of the Bush administration’s original plan (in which private personal accounts ...
-
Features
Difficult times
Recently when any overview of the Nordic exchanges has been prepared, the logical starting place is usually Sweden. This is because the OM Group has been one of the most active and high profile organisations in the world of exchanges. Last year attention focused on the bid for the London ...
-
Features
Progress slow on Directive
The proposed pensions directive is the most important part of the EC plan for a single market for financial services by 2005, said Jean-Claude Thébault of the EC at the EFRP/NAPF conference inBrussels. Thébault noted that the signs of success were not very encouraging, pointing out that the mid-term point ...
-
Features
Z score dissenters
Jan Baars and his employer, the PGGM pension fund, have been among the fiercest critics of the Z scores. In a series of articles in the Dutch press, PGGM has at times sounded almost apocalyptic, warning that the Industry-wide fund in the Netherlands is doomed. Complaints levelled against the Z ...
