Latest from IPE Magazine – Page 496
-
Features
Flying through turbulence
Germany’s largest investment consultant Feri reckons it is on track again after a takeover and adopting a new strategy. Jan Wagner reports
-
Features
Members back cash pay-outs
Despite the fear of governments, pension plan members prefer cash withdrawals, as David White report
-
Features
To fund or not to fund?
From 2009 a new statute will bring with it a joint pension scheme for all members of the European parliament. Against the wishes of the members it will be non-contributory and maybe unfunded, Barbara Ottawa reports
-
Features
Attention turns to low returns
Kazakhstan was the first country of the former USSR to implement a pension reform. A funded pension pillar has been working there since 1998. It operates in parallel with the pay-as-you-go system inherited from Soviet times. Along with mandatory pension contributions there are also voluntary and voluntary/occupational contributions. Kazakhstan’s population ...
-
Features
Impact of increased life expectancy
IPE asked three pension funds - in Germany, Iceland and Slovakia - the same question: ‘How has longevity affected you and what do you do to manage it?’ Here are their answers:
-
Features
Tough time for alternatives
The opportunities in Spain have become more restrictive for hedge funds, Gail Moss finds
-
Features
The dominance continues
In securities services, competition is fierce but local players still win out. Heather McKenzie reports
-
Features
DC risks are ‘better understood’
The challenges and problems of defined contribution (DC) schemes were among the points discussed at the Global Forum on Private Pensions organised by the OECD in conjunction with the International Organisation of Pension Supervisors (IOPS) at a conference in Istanbul. “The herd trend from traditional defined benefit (DB) to pure ...
-
Features
One share, one vote
US research suggests that the one share, one vote principle could benefit corporate efficiency. Brussels is looking at the issue but will it take heed, asks Jeremy Woolf
-
Features
Beware ridiculous investment cases
Although commodity markets have been around for centuries, investors’ interest in them has always been quite limited. Over the last few years, however, this has changed completely. Commodities have very quickly become very popular and investment in commodities is growing at an unprecedented rate. It is estimated that over the ...
-
Features
Goldilocks or stagnation?
With beta back in vogue, the time could be ripe for some thinking outside the box, says Georg Inderst
-
Features
Back to basics
Pension funds are recognising that getting asset allocation right is an essential first principle. Rachel Fixsen reports
-
Features
The shape of things to come
Liability driven investment (LDI) has become a high priority in shaping asset allocation for some pension funds in Europe where full-funding is a necessity, but some say there are complicated issues around it. In many continental European countries, liability-driven investment is less of a driving force within asset allocation than ...
-
Features
Who manages the managers?
Penny Green suggests that some companies are risking overall pension costs by not paying enough attention to the less glamorous operational tasks at hand
-
Features
No easy entry strategy
Opinion is divided on whether European small and mid caps can add sufficient value to a manager’s overall portfolio. Joseph Mariathasan reports
-
Features
Filling in an empty space
Hedge funds and private equity have the depth of experience needed, argue proponents of restructuring. David White reports
-
Features
Building up pensions or pulling them down?
Europe’s financial supervisory authorities are in an invidious position with regard to occupational pensions. They are damned if they do tighten up on regulation of pensions schemes and damned if they do not. The collapse of the equity markets early in the new century clearly called for some tough action by regulators, but was the action too tough?
-
Features
Shining a new light on an old continent
The dramatic economic changes taking place in Africa means there is a case for investors taking a closer look at what is happening, as outlined by Roelof Horne
-
Features
Post-election pension blues
US pension fund industry players are bracing for the new Democratic Congress. Their lobbyists and attorneys had hoped to obtain some industry-friendly amendments to the new Pension Protection Act, signed last August by President George W Bush. But with the new Democratic majority in both the House and the Senate ...
-
Features
Fine art of asset management
In the iconography of European asset management, Dexia Asset Management could be cast as the hero from zero. In the 1990s it was merely a gleam in the eye of the Franco-Belgian Dexia banking group. Today it is one of Europe’s leading asset managers, with over €100bn assets under management. ...
