Latest from IPE Magazine – Page 381
-
Country Report
The Netherlands: Each to its own
Last year, social affairs and labour ministry director general Maarten Camps hinted that the new FTK would take on a dual character. He talks to Miranda Schoutsen about the form the framework will take
-
Country Report
The Netherlands: DNB to tighten supervision
Mariska van der Westen outlines the agenda of the Dutch pension fund supervisors
-
Special Report
Europe's Pension Consultants: New wine in old bottles?
Brendan Maton asks whether fiduciary management is really a new advisory structure, or just a new charging structure
-
Special Report
Europe's Pension Consultants: For better or worse
Consultant monogamy is still widespread in Germany, but faithfulness does not mean fiduciary management, finds Barbara Ottawa
-
Special Report
Europe's Pension Consultants: Talking heads
We put questions to nine leading European pension consultants
-
Country Report
Belgium: KBC Pensioenfonds prepares for accounting rule changes
The pension fund of Belgian bank and insurance group KBC has returned to pre-crisis levels following 2010 returns of 9.42% for the DB and 6.52% for the DC scheme, leaving the scheme with a short-term, liquidation scenario funding level of 147% and a long-term funding level of 113%, up 8% ...
-
Country Report
Belgium: Pension B looks to real estate and tactical asset allocation
Before the Vandenbroucke law came into force in 2004, the Belgian construction sector distributed some of its reserves to its retiring ex-workers. However, this practice did not conform to the new OFP (organisation for financing pensions) system, leading to the creation of the new sector pension fund, Pensio B, in ...
-
Country Report
Belgium: Pensioenfonds UZ Gent: Diverse benchmarks
The UZ Gent pension fund, founded in 1995, is unique in Belgium in that it does not provide a second pillar supplementary pension, but replaces the legal first pillar pension for civil servants employed at the University Hospital Ghent. Employees with a normal labour agreement cannot join the scheme.
-
Country Report
Belgium: GDF Suez/Belgian gas and electricity pension funds re-assess euro government bond exposure
These five pension funds – comprising a total of 20,000 members – cover GDF Suez Belgium, the Belgian entity of GDF Suez, a global independent power generating company, and other companies from the Belgian gas and electricity sector.
-
Country ReportThe Netherlands: Panic football or a long game?
Dutch opinion is divided over the regulatory reaction to the recent financial shocks, find Liam Kennedy and Mariska van der Westen. Whatever the outcome of the planned overhaul to the FTK, good communication will be essential
-
Country Report
The Netherlands: The right risks
Mariska van der Westen discussed longevity and other risks with Peter Borgdorff, director of the Dutch healthcare fund PFZW
-
Special Report
Europe's Pension Consultants: A little goes a long way
The UK’s smaller pension schemes are arguably more varied and challenged than the bigger ones. Martin Steward meets some of the advisers dedicated to helping them cope
-
Asset Class Reports
European Equities: A heterogeneous marketplace
Top-performing European equity portfolios are both concentrated and very diverse in outlook and composition, finds Joseph Mariathasan
-
Asset Class Reports
European Equities: UK equities: The Liontrust approach
The UK equity market is still distinct from that of continental Europe because of factors such as its size, the large number of multi-nationals and mid-sized companies with global presence, and a still large domestic institutional investor base in the form of pension funds with relatively high domestic equity exposures.
-
Asset Class Reports
European Equities: Corporate strength abounds
The picture is complex, but in general low indebtedness and high return on equity will cause capital flows to CEE corporates, writes Juraj Kotian
-
Features
Consultants have their uses
Just under half (45.5%) of respondents to this month’s Off The Record survey use investment consultancy services on a retainer basis. Some 32% use them on an occasional or project basis, 18% use them in other ways, such as a combination of retainer and project basis, and 4.5% never use ...
-
Features
Liam Kennedy: Advice, please
Few consultants wear their heart on their sleeve when it comes to the outcome of their advice to pension funds in terms of hard numbers.
-
Features
Martin Steward: Homeward bound
It’s exactly two years since I wrote my first column in IPE. In it, I asked whether the OECD could grow enough to support its pensions. “Pension funds will almost certainly have to increase allocations to emerging markets.”
-
Features
Mariska van der Westen: A bumpy ride
It used to be that the pensions industry was considered staid and dependable and – let’s face it – not the most exciting topic of conversation. But no more. After decades of quietly looking after the nation’s pension savings with nary a hitch, Dutch pension fund managers suddenly find themselves ...
-
Features
From Our Perspective: Careful what you wish for
At the end of January, Michel Barnier, the European commissioner for the internal market, told an audience of Dutch pension funds definitively that the Commission will not apply Solvency II rules to pension funds.
