Latest from IPE Magazine – Page 354
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Features
Changed landscape
Iain Morse outlines the effect impending regulations will have on the custody industry and defined benefit pension funds
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Interviews
Alternatives – with pensions DNA
Sometimes a company’s best investments aren’t in businesses or financial markets. When Jack Coates took over management of the pension plan for US forest products firm Weyerhaeuser in 1985, he was returning to full-time work after the company let him pursue a PhD while working part-time in his international treasury position. That investment was to pay off handsomely. His research led him to understand how alternative investments could be relevant to the challenge he saw before the Weyerhaeuser pension plan, which was under-funded and needed to generate higher returns without incurring too much downside volatility.
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Features
Diary of an Investor: To be charitable
It is a windy morning at the end of January and I am driving to a conference in Amsterdam.
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Features
‘Keep it simple’
To mark our fifteenth anniversary, we asked 15 European pension funds about the past, present and future of pensions. Although eight respondents to this month’s Off The Record survey felt the trend would abate, all believed that increases in pension members’ longevity would continue in the 2010s and 2020s. Only two felt their fund was badly prepared to deal with this. A Dutch fund commented: “We already calculate a future increasing life expectancy, and I think it will be less than our calculations.”
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Features
Strategy and tactics
The annual strategy meeting of the Wasserdicht pension funds is always an interesting affair. We are meeting at a nice hotel in the area of Frankfurt, with a decent golf course. Helmut from our German Pensionskasse is our host and the chairman of the meeting.
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Features
Consultants could improve
Almost half of the respondents to this month’s Off The Record survey used investment consultants on a retainer basis, although just slightly fewer used them on an occasional or project basis. Only two respondents never use consultants.
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Opinion Pieces
Don’t touch Article 18
Investment rules for workplace pension funds should not be harmonised at European level. At least, this is the view aired in several responses to the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority’s (EIOPA) call for advice (CfA) document on the revisions to the 2003 IORP Directive.
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Opinion Pieces
In the line of fire
The $225bn (€177bn) California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) used to be considered a leader in setting new trends, such as investing to improve companies’ corporate governance or to achieve environmental and social goals. But today it is in the line of fire, with critics pointing to its disappointing results and pushing for big changes.
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Features
Austria can learn from Denmark
Birgit Vogt-Majarek, Dr Natalie Seitz and Jakob Arffmann explain how Austria’s pension system might benefit from the experiences of Denmark in promoting greater participation of the over-50s in the labour market
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Country Report
Central and Eastern Europe: Decimated
Hungary’s mandatory pension system is in tatters following last year’s nationalisation of the sector’s assets, writes Thomas Escritt
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Country Report
Central and Eastern Europe: Post traumatic stress
Polish pension funds are not using their freedom to invest more in equities, finds Krystyna Krzyzak
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Country Report
Central and Eastern Europe: An uncertain year
Poland’s second pillar providers are looking for clarity, writes Krystyna Krzyzak
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Country Report
Central and Eastern Europe: Sword of Damocles
Romania’s fiscal austerity has sheltered its nascent pension fund industry but the outlook is still unclear, writes Thomas Escritt
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Country Report
Central and Eastern Europe: Post solidarity
Svobodka Kostadinova and Dr Nickolai Slavchev deliver an overview of the dynamic Bulgarian pension system
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Country Report
Central and Eastern Europe: National wealth
Iain Morse outlines the development of Russia’s two sovereign wealth funds
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Special Report
Latin America: No more stereotypes
Having escaped the shackles of their stereotypes, Latin American countries today present to investors an attractive mix of low budget deficits, low public and private debt, and prudent monetary policy. Gail Moss reports
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Special Report
Latin America:L’enfant terrible
Among the Latin American countries, Argentina, with its high inflation and capital restrictions, is arguably the most problematic investment prospect for investors, as Gail Moss finds
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Special Report
Latin America: First place in Peru
Prima AFP would like to see limits on international investments liftged to that it can fully exploit its emerging consumer theme, writes Gail Moss
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Special Report
Latin America: Funds that Brazilians bank on
FUNCEF and Banesprev are both moving to take advantage of Brazil’s evolving pension investment rules, writes Gail Moss
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Special Report
Latin America: Domestic influences
To gain exposure to the domestic story, investors need to dig below the global LBO activity that has dominated the region, finds Joseph Mariathasan
