All Features articles – Page 613
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Features
Stormy waters ahead
The rule of modern life that the big get bigger is certainly being borne out in the field of the international consultants. No sooner has Watson Wyatt created its mega-firm, than Aon moves to absorb Alexander & Alexander, which will have international ramifications, and Mellon to acquire Buck Consultants. The ...
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Features
Swiss scheme goes all domestic
The global custody portfolio of Switzerland’s AHV fund, which services national pension and social payments, is due to be awarded to Swiss Bank Corporation because it has the most competitive rates. At the time of going to press, the contract had not been signed, but both Joseph Hofstetter, manager of ...
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Features
Another good year for UK fund performance
UK pension funds have had another good year, according to both UK investment performance measurement companies. The WM Company, with over 75% of the UK market, and CAPS, with 22%, both calculate that pension funds enjoyed an overall average return of over 11% in 1996. (CAPS figures are provisional.) For ...
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Features
Together but apart
As demands grow for international reach, consultants are organising themselves into networks. John Lappin reports. Multinational companies are increasingly considering the pension needs of employees on an international basis. They look to consultants to provide local knowledge backed by international reach. Many actuarial partnerships have attempted to meet this demand ...
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Features
Deutsche challenges US in custody battle
Germany’s largest bank – the 125 year old Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt – has announced that it is aiming, this year and for the following two years, to double its custody business. Throwing down the gauntlet to US banks, Deutsche is making it clear that its ambition is to be ...
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Features
Discipline will beat flair
Bill Goodsall explains why more investors should turn to the secure” haven of quantitative investment
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Features
The mixture as before
With UK pension funds holding a larger share of their assets in equities last year the long-awaited shift to bonds isn’t happening. Or is it?
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Features
Belgacom goes global
Last year the Belgacom Pension Fund selected eight fund managers and a custodian bank to handle the first tranche of its Bfr55bn ($1.6bn) fund, from the 60-plus respondents to its contract offer. Following an asset liability study to determine the strategic asset allocation, provisional benchmarks and tactical asset limits were ...
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Features
Blind dates for euro party players
France will. Spain and Portugal would love to. And the UK can’t decide. Jason Crosland reports on the arduous process in preparing to meet the monetary and fiscal demands of the euro
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Features
Make funds building blocks of portfolios
Gérard Fischer describes how to implement strategies based on funds
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Features
Switzerland: Boom time for funds
In the past, investment funds were the preserve of the small investor. Now institutional investors are increasingly turning to them as an alternative to direct investment. The disadvantages of higher costs are seen to be outweighed by the savings in personnel resources, as well as the diversification of risk that ...
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Features
Japan: Time to join Japanese bulls as currency fears ease
We believe the Japanese equity market will bottom out this quarter in its present range (Nikkei 18,000 and Topix 1,400). The market should find its feet during the first quarter and will be significantly more buoyant through the summer. The market has trended downward because market sentiment is overly depressed. ...
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Features
Misplaced 'EMU-phoria' could result in bumpy ride
Andrew Gillies discusses the clouds on the horizon for pension funds
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Features
Funds fight tax cases in US courts
British and Dutch pension funds, most notably PGGM, are involved in litigation in the USA or have cases pending which will clarify their tax status and could bring millions of dollars worth of rebates. The funds hope to claim a rebate on withholding tax from the Internal Revenue Service on ...
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Features
The king of the cash mountain
Siemens feel they have reached the end of the line with the book reserve system. Herbert Lohneiss tells Fennell Betson why he is not satisfied. At Siemens, they reckon they have gone as far as they can to funding the group’s enormous pensions provisions under the book reserve system. But ...
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Features
Switzerland: Caution and consolidation are watch words
After market increases of 25% in 1995 and 19% in 1996, Swiss analysts are urging caution. “We advise some hedging of positions after last year,” says Bert Röegsegger, head of research at ATAG Asset Management in Berne, “though we are also advising investors not to sell”. Increased profits for Swiss ...
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Features
Swiss chafe at overseas limit
Swiss pension fund managers who outperformed the Swiss market last year hope to do so again in 1997, but are concerned about prospective levels of returns. The approach will need to be highly selective, says one manager. His favoured stocks are pharmaceuticals and fi-nancials, and he has plans to increase ...
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Features
The race to the top of the class
Bob Crew explains why custodians are opening their doors to consultants and allowing them to grade them
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Features
Steer clear of US, warns Lombard Odier
Our main investment assumption, of a more balanced world growth, estimated at 2.5% for OECD countries, stems from the economic recoveries expected in Japan and Eur-ope, together with more moderate US expansion. We expect inflation to remain pretty much under control, despite gradually increasing wage pressures in the US and ...
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Features
Time to come in from the cold
Times have often been tough for Europe’s pension consultants. But with changes ahead for the industry, their time may finally have come, report Fennell Betson and Bob Crew
