All Features articles – Page 432
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Features
Looking after the planet - or number one?
In this month’s Off The Record we asked how far pension funds should be involved with the companies in which they invest. This is a particularly pertinent issue in light of recent high-profile media cases on corporate ethical policies, directors’ pay and the involvement of pension funds in extracting shareholder ...
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Features
Pictet does it once again
For great service from your global custodian, ignore the big outfits and instead opt for smaller providers- that is according to a survey by R&M Consulting, a UK-based market research company. Swiss private bank Pictet & Cie came out on top as the best service provider beating off competition from ...
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Features
New agency to oversee funds
The Republic of Macedonia has been in the headlines for all the wrong reasons over the past few months, but surprisingly its economy has shown a strong performance and its government a commitment to social reform. Sadly last month the threat of civil war emerged again, although the government refuses ...
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Features
Altera prepares the ground
Established at Haarlem in the Netherlands, property investment company, Altera Vastgoed was born out of the idea that property should be viewed in the same way as other asset classes. The pension funds of KLM and Hoogovens, the joint shareholders and developers of Altera, sought to use the new company ...
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Features
The passive approach to bonds
In the mid-1990s, we were approached by a client and asked if our long experience of running passive global equity accounts could be applied to a fixed income portfolio. Underperformance by many active global and US bond managers in standard competitive universes was well documented and the prospect of paying ...
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Features
Keen eye for pensions assets
Swedish life companies are going through a period of significant change and development. In the news currently is the acquisition of SPP Liv, SPP Fonder and the SPP brand by Handelsbanken, leaving the remainder of the SPP organisation to trade under the name Alecta. SPP Liv was created in 1994 ...
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Features
The beginning of reform
The Belgian government has taken a step forward in the development of the country’s pension fund system, with a proposed new law aiming to promote the consolidation of the second pillar. The new law, subject to review, will probably come into force at the end of the year. It will ...
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Features
Opportunity to improve benefits management
The world of financial reporting of retirement benefits for UK-based multinationals changed in November 2000 when the UK Accounting Standards Board (ASB) published Financial Reporting Standard 17 (FRS 17). FRS 17, which values plan assets and liabilities by reference to current market conditions, is very different to the previous standard ...
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Features
US high yield bonds: an overview
After a volatile and often difficult year for world financial markets in 2000, investors have lately sought safe havens for their assets in traditional sectors, such as government bonds, value stocks, and real estate. Economies around the world have been showing signs of slowdown, and even after recent cuts in ...
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Features
Technology brings transparency
Real estate business people have always exploited the lack of transparent information in the property markets. Superior knowledge is a key advantage for successful business in the real estate industry. Whereas markets for securities provide a high degree of available data about the prices of the goods traded on the ...
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Features
Brussels hit by liquidity squeeze
Like most exchanges Brussels’ has had a dreadful year. This is all the less excusable given that the BEL20 is light on TMT stocks. With the index opening at around 3,300 at the beginning of last year, it nose-dived and bottomed out at the middle of March last year at ...
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Features
Success built on security
As European fund managers look to the US for investment opportunities, they would be wise to consider the continued success of the US futures markets. Certainly the liquidity, depth and transparency of the markets have all contributed to their strength and longevity. But an equally important factor is the integrity ...
