Latest from IPE Magazine – Page 547
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Features
More than just cosmetic
The main focus of those responsible for pensions of Bayer’s 93,000 employees worldwide has been the move from defined benefit (DB) to defined contribution (DC). “This year we have concluded the process with the completion of the move of our US employees to the DC system,” says Lutz Cardinal von ...
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Features
Sweden's red light zone
The Swedish financial regulator Finansinspektionen (FI) has launched a consultation on a proposal to identify possible problems at occupational pension funds and life companies using the so-called traffic-light model. Sweden plans to just use red as a signal. “Using the traffic-light model, FI will be able to identify at an ...
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Features
Where the grass is greener?
There seem to be two Irelands when it comes to pensions. The first is the dynamic financial centre that is looking to become a pensions hub for Europe once the occupational pension fund directive kicks in. The second by contrast is a country that is wrestling with its very own ...
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Features
A fork in the road
Some have argued that compulsion is the only way to close the so-called ‘savings gap’ the shortfall between the amount people will need in their retirement and the amount that the state will provide. They say the introduction of compulsory pension contributions is the only way forward, since encouragement to ...
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Special Report
Too bitter a pill to swallow
Major European pension institutions such as ABP, USS and Hermes are among a group of institutional investors that have launched a lawsuit against Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp over a poison pill arrangement. Investors participating include Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP, the UK’s Universities Superannuation Scheme and Hermes Investment Management. The group seeks ...
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Features
How secure is your lending?
IPE asked three pension funds in three countries – Ireland, Denmark and the Netherlands – the same question: ‘Does securities lending represent free revenue for pension funds or does it carry underestimated risks?’ Here are their answers: Michael Nellemann Perdersen, CIO at PKA, which groups eight pension funds in ...
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Features
Starting a system from scratch
The office of Mikhel Oim, executive chairman of Hansa Fund Management, is in Tallinn’s burgeoning modern business sector, which spreads out below the picturesque old walled town. Its location mirrors the country’s pensions sector, which has seen new second and third pillar schemes grafted onto a crumbling Soviet-era PAYG first ...
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Features
Working compromise
The Finnish government is the envy of its European counterparts when it comes to the pensions issue. Old age pensions have a minimal impact on Finland’s fiscal situation as no public money goes towards them, the budget only being called upon to provide a basic state pension for those with ...
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Special Report
Seeing the wood
The principle of keeping things simple may well turn out to be critical in gaining widespread acceptance of environmental reporting requirements. Simon Thomas is chief executive at Trucost, a research consultancy which specialises in measuring the impact companies have on the environment. He refers to a recent report compiled by ...
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Special Report
Inclusion boosts engagement
In September independent Stockholm-based SRI analysis house GES Investment Services launched a web-based extension to its active engagement service that will enable its institutional investor clients to become more involved in the engagement process. “There is a need for an engagement/discussion forum for clients,” says GES marketing director Henrik Af ...
