Latest from IPE Magazine – Page 646
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Features
Parliament gets to work on hedge funds
With the summer break now over, the legislative machine at Brussels has started to crank back into life. On the slate is a directive aimed at pinning down transparency. Also in the pipeline are a consultation on pensions mobility and the directive on investment services. But perhaps the most interesting ...
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Features
Russian system creaks into action
Russia’s pension reform has been slow in coming. For the past eight years, a three-pillar system has gradually been taking shape, and over the past two years, developments to the second pillar appear to have now been finalised. Back in January, President Putin signed the law to allow private asset ...
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Features
Using the P/E test
The number of investors questioning the sustainability of the stock rally over the past months is increasing. European stocks have gained nearly 40% since their low in mid-March and nearly 13% year-to-date. While the overall sentiment seems to remain positive due to improving macroeconomic news, especially in the US, investors ...
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Features
Why we all will be speaking IAS 19 soon
With apologies to yet another variation on those immortal words from Star Trek, it’s just possible that pension accounting treatment in Europe might become the trend-setter for the world, surpassing even the US Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) that started it all almost 20 years ago. In December 1985, the ...
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Features
The private equity world
The private equity world sometimes moves at a different pace to the rest of the investment world. The European Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (interestingly still best know by the abbreviation of its old name – EVCA) has just published (in its mid- September newsletter) a summary of the ...
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Features
Unleash your investment manager
There has been much criticism of the way investment benchmarks are used by institutional investors, such as pension funds. Many commentators have argued that the ‘tech boom’ was exacerbated by institutional investors piling into technology stocks simply because they were in the index. Many investment managers have complained that risk ...
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Features
Living a life of their own
First, an uncomfortable truth. Few European pension funds are likely to have much room in their portfolios for US small caps, defined as US companies with a market capitalisation of between $200m (E178m) and $1bn. The average asset allocation to all US equities by European institutional investors is around 20%. ...
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Features
How to secure a pension deal
The need for clearly articulated arrangements between pension stakeholders has recently gained in importance. It is no longer acceptable for large corporations to base their relationship with their pension funds on vague promises as far as annual contribution rates, shortfall recovery plans and refunds in abundant market situations are concerned. ...
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Features
Pragmatic solutions
Companies in Luxembourg have, until recently, had little incentive to introduce supplementary pensions for their employees. The Grand Duchy has one the most generous state pensions in Europe, promising between 60% and 70% of final salary after 40 years’ contributions. This has meant that occupational pension plans in Luxembourg have ...
