Latest from IPE Magazine – Page 939
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Features
UK: Prospect of steady growth
The minimum funding requirement (MFR) will have little impact on the investment strategy of the £1.5bn ($2.4bn) Philips UK Pension Fund as the fund carried out an asset liability study in 1993. It has since moved from a minimal position in index-linked gilts to a current holding of over £400mn ...
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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
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
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
Misplaced 'EMU-phoria' could result in bumpy ride
Andrew Gillies discusses the clouds on the horizon for pension funds
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Features
Moderate expectations and a tilt to equities
In ABN AMRO’s asset allocation for the first quarter, we overweight equities and underweight bonds and cash. For 1997, we expect, on average, economic growth to be moderate, while inflation will remain at a relatively low level. This outlook is not only justified by the most recent cyclical indicators but ...
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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
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
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
Index management: a high value service or commodity?
In the US pension arena, index management has been a major factor since the early seventies and, following a typical product life cycle, has reached maturity: 1) fees have come down to a few basis points, 2) competition has been crowded out to a handful of players sharing more than ...
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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
Using nervous system to make connections
Klaus Ragotzky reports on neural networks, used by Bayerische Landesbank to forecast future government bond yields
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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
Painting the full performance picture
Systematic performance analysis of mutual funds is a must. Generally, performance is expressed relative to certain benchmarks” which may give a clearer view of management abilities, but the whole picture is incomplete if the dimension of investment risk is ignored. Here the widely-used concept of “volatility” has to be reviewed, ...
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Features
Drive to devise packages for funds
British investment banks and real estate agencies are using all their ingenuity to design property packages that appeal to pension fund tastes. They are having some success, not least with pension funds from elsewhere in Europe. Why does real estate need packaging? On the face of it, commercial property should ...
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Features
Communicating through cultural differences
Europe, we are assured, is a family of nations. Yet in spite of the best endeavours of those such as Esperantists, it remains a family where there is still no single, truly universal, language. Inevitably, there are times when communication difficulties arise. Most companies of any reasonable size have a ...
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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
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Features
In the relationship game
Employers are more concerned with being able to work with consultants than with the cost, writes John Lappin
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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 ...
