Latest from IPE Magazine – Page 722
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Special Report
Dispelling the mysteries
‘For many beneficiaries and the public at large, pension funds are most mysterious organisations.” Whether or not you agree with this conclusion by an academic, it is certainly true that the structure and the running of pension plans has attracted low attention in the past, even by many insiders. However, ...
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Features
Styles debate is now over
Even as the academic debate mumbles forward and current research diligently examines how styles might best be theoretically defined and where, and how, they might be relevant, recent equity returns and vivid investor experiences have already spoken very clearly. From 1997 to 2000, value underperformed and growth companies soared. Also, ...
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Features
New market set for consolidation
Poland’s centre-left government was returned to power last autumn by a population disgruntled with rising unemployment, deteriorating public finances and a rapidly decelerating economy. The one undoubted success of the outgoing government was pension reform, which in 1999 replaced an unsustainable defined benefits system with a three-pillar system partly funded ...
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Features
DB to DC in record time
The Polish pension reforms of 1999 rank as one of the fastest implementations of a switch from defined benefit to defined contributions schemes. Marek Gora, professor at the Warsaw School of Economics and co-designer of the programme, started work on the scheme in late 1996, producing the blueprint in early ...
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Features
Funds seek fewer investment limits
Like many other Polish financial reforms, the private pensions system was designed to boost the local capital markets. OFEs operate under a range of investment caps – except in the case of state treasuries where investment is unlimited – including a 40% limit on publicly traded Polish equities, 10% in ...
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Special Report
A question of competency
“Capabilities are really high, skills and competencies are quite good.” This is the outcome of an independently commissioned survey by consultants Watson Wyatt into decision-making and pension fund governance in the UK. As Professor Andrew Kakabadse from the Cranfield School of Management, who led the research, told those attending a ...
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Features
The dice are rolling in Asia
Once again last year, the Asian region provided some of the most rewarding returns for foreign investors. And if 2001 was an important year for Asia, with China and Taiwan entering the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the markets of South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand giving investors a boost, then ...
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Features
Isle of Man's international package
On 1 January the Isle of Man took an important step towards becoming a key jurisdiction for international pension schemes. The Retirement Benefits Schemes (International Schemes) Regulations 2001 came into effect, creating a framework that enables IoM government- approved international retirement benefits schemes, catering for non-resident members or individuals, to ...
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Features
Why Euro groups must centralise
As the New Year rings in the euro, how much evidence is there that European companies are adopting a more centralised approach to benefits management at the same time as they start using the single currency? The reasons for a more centralised approach are compelling. Employee benefits represent a huge ...
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Features
More you saved - the more you pay
Revenue sharing is the “big secret” of the retirement industry. It can affect badly planned participants’ and sponsors’ results. People must unveil this secret and learn how to get better services for the money they pay. This is according to a research study just released by McHenry Consulting Group, a ...
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Features
'History of change' launch by MSCI
Morgan Stanley Capital International has launched a product to help researchers which shows all the historical rebalancings which have been made to its indices. The MSCI ‘History of Change’ (HoC) provides details on index rebalancings made to all MSCI Equity Indices since 1988, but does not include market-driven changes such ...
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Features
Now for the classification wars
As globalisation shifts the investment focus onto industrial sectors and away from geographical regions, so index providers have been sharpening up the way they define those sectors. Starting this year, Standard & Poor’s is using the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS) as the sole system for all its indices worldwide. ...
