All articles by IPE staff – Page 37
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Features
Novartis shifts from 'bricks and mortar'
The SFr16.8bn (e11.4bn) pension scheme of Swiss pharmaceutical giant, Novartis, holds real estate assets that comprise 12% of the fund’s assets. Earlier this year, it completed a major transition in the approach to its property portfolio, which allowed the fund to maintain its exposure to this asset class, while enabling ...
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Features
Inarcassa builds on strong pillars
Inarcassa is the e2bn pensions and social assistance fund for Italy’s self-employed engineers and architects and has approximately 100,000 members. The fund’s asset allocation strategy is designed to take into account hypothetical situations looking at the long-term risk/return balance and all potential investments. It must also consider risk tolerance, return ...
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Features
Centrum PensPlan's seal of quality
Centrum PensPlan is the company set up to develop all the necessary operations for the regional Trentino Alto Adige’s supplementary pensions provision project. It also has a mandate to offer economic support by helping people in temporary financial difficulty make their fund contributions and provide adequate guarantees concerning the retirement ...
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Features
CNA combines three into one
The pension plan for employees of Spain’s Central Nuclear de Almaraz, AIE, is the only one connected to the Santander XXV pension fund, and had 530 members and beneficiaries and an asset base of €11.6m. The scheme resulted from an agreement to transform three collective insurance funds – capitalised pension ...
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Features
Working through complexities of externalisation
For a small pension fund like the pension fund for the employees of the Central Nuclear de Almaraz (CNA) in Spain, winning the IPE award for best fund structure and administration in Spain came as nice surprise, only two years after the fund was created. With around €12m under management ...
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Features
Fonditel reacts to daily market conditions
Fonditel is a pension fund management company (‘gestora’) that manages five pension funds, all of which are defined contribution structures. The company currently manages pensions for 71,500 people, representing 1% of the salaried workforce in the private sector and 14% of occupational pension schemes. Fonditel is a company dedicated exclusively ...
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Features
Why LPFA is contrarian
As one of the largest providers of the Local Government Pensions Scheme (LGPS) in the UK, the LPFA fund provides defined benefit (DB) pensions for the employees of over 220 organisations in the non-profit sector, as well as delivering administration services to eight London boroughs amongst other organisations – giving ...
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Features
Public recognition for 'massive contribution' to funding
The strategy of the fund, clearly impressed the judges. The process of review is well defined and seems to be performing, says one. “Very clear logical processes,” says another. At the fund, the news of the award was warmly welcomed by group chief pensions manager Frank Flynn: “The trustees and ...
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Features
Responding to courage and vision
Courage and vision are the two key attributes that the management of Pension Fund Services (PFS), the pension fund company created by the boards of the three main pension schemes in the Swissair group following the latter’s demise last year, believes convinced the judges to give PFS the IPE Award ...
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Features
Rapid response to Swissair crisis
Within hours of the collapse of Swissair last October, the powers-that-be at the group’s various pension schemes, worth collectively SFr11bn (e7.5bn) at the time, decided to take action to protect its assets and members. Before the funds could be dragged down with the bankruptcy proceedings and see their assets exposed ...
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Features
ESB's DC redesign enhances flexibility
The E6m ESB Subsidiary Companies Pension Scheme provides retirement benefits and protection in the event of death for employees of subsidiary companies of the Electricity Supply Board. A separate scheme provides benefits in the event of prolonged disability. The schemes were set up in 1991 to provide for the employees ...
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Features
PGGM integrates DC into main scheme
The €47bn PGGM scheme is a compulsory pension arrangement for the 950,000 or so employees in the Dutch healthcare and social work sector. Until May this year, the pension scheme was entirely defined benefit (DB) in orientation. This changed with the introduction of the PGGM Extra Pension, which provides a ...
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Features
Double win for fund provides delight and welcome motivation
When Vienna based Verienigte Pensionskasse (VPK), Austria’s largest multi-employer pension fund, heard the news that it had won the IPE Award for both fund administration and investment strategy, the initial reaction was one of surprise. “That’s not to say that we weren’t delighted or we felt it was undeserved,” says ...
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Features
Nestlé optimises plan design to fit new opportunities
The beneficiaries of the Nestlé pension plan pay a fixed contribution of 2% of their respective salaries into the Nestlé Pensionskasse (NPK). In return they receive the benefit of participation in the Nestlé Versorgungkasse’s (NVK) defined benefit (DB) plan. The Nestlé Rückdeckungskasse (NRK) is a support fund, which serves the ...
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Features
Sign of distinction for strategies designed to meet goals
What the judges said: “The sophisticated financial, legal and economic unbundling of commercial real estate cash income streams as a means to protect the indexed portion of the defined benefit plan’s liabilities is assumed to reduce the overall risks of a mismatch between liabilities and assets. It has merit for ...
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Features
Determination to show Europe what group can provide
Innovation “with new investment vehicles” is how one judge summed up his view of France’s PRO-BTP Finance. This thriving operator has long benefited domestically from a good reputation reinforced by various awards from French organisations but the IPE Award for investment strategy may allow the company to exploit markets beyond ...
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Features
VPK diversifies strategies and managers for outperformance
Established in 1990, the Vereinigte Pensionskasse AG (VPK) is the largest general pension fund in Austria. The running contributions increased to e106m in 2001. In March 2001 the VPK commenced the formulation of a new equity holding concept. Two central themes dominated this formulation, namely strategy diversification and manager diversification. ...
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Features
FP Métal opens door for sector plans
When employers and trade unions in the Belgian metal industry came together in 1999 to discuss the formation of what was to become the Fonds de Pension Métal, it was the first time ever that a sector-wide plan had been contemplated to provide an occupation-related pension plan for a group ...
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Features
A second win enhances fund's drive to make more improvements
Austria’s APK pension fund was more than delighted to learn that it had won the IPE investment strategy award for the second year running. “Winning this award again is a strong acknowledgement from Europe’s pension fund industry of our professionalism and leadership and it places substantial weight behind our general ...
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Features
Recognition as market leader highlights drive for
What the judges said: ”Sophisticated and well defined technically.” The judges noted that AP3 had made a clear statement of the problem, which they said was “very difficult to solve”. AP3, however, according to the judges, had come up with “innovative concepts” and an “honesty” in recognising the limitations of ...
