Latest from IPE Magazine – Page 577
-
Features
Finland faces tough choices
The Finnish government has been urged to usher in more politically difficult pension reform measures to make its finances sustainable. The “political arithmetic” suggests there may be dangers in waiting too long, a new report warns. It comes as it appears that the initial response to a new flexible retirement ...
-
Features
Between a rock and a hard place
News that a conference on longevity and the capital markets in February was so massively oversubscribed that a video link had to be set up to accommodate the overspill demonstrates just how topical this issue has become recently. The conference came on the heels of news that both the French ...
-
Features
Mandatory saving not the German way
The government has ruled out the possibility of private saving for retirement in Germany becoming mandatory, saying its pension reforms of 2001 and 2004 should be sufficient. To encourage saving for retirement, the government created Riester Rente in 2001 – second- and third-pillar pensions that qualify for government subsidies. But ...
-
Features
Not all on the same hymn sheet
“Historically, pension funds gave all their assets to one manager. Then they realised that one manager could not outperform over every asset class. So they turned to specialists, and ended up with several asset managers, 10 or 12 reports, and a very complex structure. Multi-manager (MM) is the solution. It ...
-
Features
Hard going in France
While multi-manager (MM) services have grown dramatically in popularity worldwide, France is one European market where progress has been slow. Foreign entrants to the French MM institutional market have found it particularly hard to make progress, and domestic organisations which set up MM products some years ago have found growth ...
-
Features
Tough going for investors
Narrowing credit spreads are good for the borrower and great for the lender or investor if they own the debt while it improves. However, as spreads diminish, so too do prospects for excess returns. Credit spreads have been shrinking for some years now and have reached record lows for some ...
-
Features
Facing a climate of change
Much has been written and spoken about the EU Directive, which must be implemented in EU national laws by 23 September 2005. Some see it as having insignificant impact and others believe that it will be a catalyst for major change for pensions throughout the EU. Implementation of the directive ...
-
Features
Paying for the good life
One of the requirements of membership of the Salvation Army, the quasi-military Christian mission created by William Booth in 1865, is that members abstain from alcohol and avoid tobacco. This has created an unusual situation for the actuaries of the Salvation Army’s UK pension schemes, who have to take account ...
-
Features
Tobback: making his mark
Belgium’s new pensions and environment minister Bruno Tobback has his work cut out. The ever more important and contentious portfolio of pensions offers challenges galore. But to make his mark Tobback must, at the tender age of 35, prove himself against the backdrop of his influential predecessor Frank Vandenbroucke, architect ...
-
Features
Back on a roll
Things are coming back together again - that’s official - but not as we knew them. Ron Logue, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, has slid his legs firmly under the CEO’s desk at State Street’s new HQ building in Boston. He clearly feels at home and relishing the challenges ahead. “The 1990s ...
-
Features
Moving the goal posts
Many in the European pension fund industry would consider their Icelandic colleagues to be in an enviable position. A series of agreements between trade unions and employers since the late 1960s created a structure that has nearly universal coverage, was robust enough to shrug off the financial market meltdown of ...
-
Features
Generous to a fault
Belgium’s 150 MPs retire on one of the most generous pensions of any parliamentarians in Europe - some 75% of final salary - which compares with around two-thirds of final salary in most other cases. But in terms of the length of time it takes to accumulate a full pension, ...
-
Features
Hedge strategies still dominant
December was globally a good month for hedge fund strategies, especially when compared to the disappointing performance in 2004 as a whole. But as shown in table 1, the performance of the different strategies was mixed in December. While the convertible arbitrage and CTA global strategies fell short of their ...
