More comment – Page 56
-
Opinion Pieces
Nigel Waterson, Chairman of trustees, Now Pensions
“There is one universal truth upon which virtually everyone agrees – the UK annuities market is broken”
-
Features
Credit where it’s due
Of the 22 investors polled for this month’s Focus Group, seven feel that credit has become more important in their fund’s portfolio over the past five years, and a further 10 believe it has become slightly more important. Only two rate credit as less important.
-
Opinion Pieces
Glide paths and targets
Target-date funds (TDFs) are so popular in the US that even the nation’s largest defined contribution (DC) pension system – the $400bn (€290bn) Thrift Savings Plan, the 401(k)-style retirement plan for federal staff – is thinking of making its TDF the default option for new employees. But with an increasingly diverse array of TDFs, concern is growing among plan sponsors and advisers about the level of fiduciary responsibility involved.
-
Opinion Pieces
The countdown begins
The countdown has started. By the end of May, 751 members of the European Parliament will have been selected by as many of the 400m electors who care enough to vote.
-
Features
A few reactions…
The leaked draft of the IORP II Directive has generally received positive reactions from experts in the European pensions industry.
-
Opinion Pieces
ESG lacks something
No, I haven’t had a damascene conversion to become an ESG critic. Rather, my argument is that the ESG (environment, social and governance) community needs to add another ‘E’, for economics.
-
Features
A model but no debate
One of the most outspoken critics of pensions accounting and the IASB is Tim Bush. Since 2011, Bush, a former ICAEW Council member, and self-confessed MBA-group-think-phobe, has taken the lead on governance and financial analysis at PIRC. His assessment of accountancy’s shortcomings is disarmingly blunt – not only have accountants lost the big picture, they have the detail wrong.
-
Opinion Pieces
Thomas Richter CEO BVI, Germany’s asset management association
“Auto enrolment would make sense in Germany and could develop through collective bargaining”
-
Opinion Pieces
Towards a 29th regime
A single-market regime for third-pillar pensions has moved closer with a paper entitled Towards an EU-Single Market for Personal Pensions from the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA).
-
Opinion Pieces
Retirement saving boost
Who will manage the new My Retirement Account (MyRA) retirement savings vehicle? This is a big question for the US pension fund industry now that President Barack Obama has created the new programme.
-
Opinion Pieces
The twain shall meet
The figures speak for themselves when it comes to the development of defined contribution (DC) pension assets. Defined benefit (DB) pensions accounted for over 60% of the total assets in Towers Watson’s annual Global Pension Asset Study 10 years ago but that share is now 53% and falling; the annual growth of DC assets was 8.8% over the past 10 years compared with 5% for DB assets.
-
Opinion Pieces
Lessons from Davos
Who would have thought that Davos would take over from the dormant Occupy movement on the issue on ‘inequality’? Or that five years after the crisis the financial sector would still be top of the WEF Global Risks register?
-
Opinion Pieces
Debbie Harrison Visiting professor The Pensions Institute, Cass Business School, UK
“The most important factor that determines the outcome in DC pensions is the member charge, not the investment strategy”
-
Opinion Pieces
Brussels to develop rules for social funds
Brussels looks set to flesh out the existing EU regulation for European Social Entrepreneurship Funds (EuSEFs), which lays down broad principles as to how funds should be governed.
-
Opinion Pieces
Intriguing opportunities
De-risking strategies are likely to become more popular with US corporate pension funds now they have reached their healthiest state since the crisis. This trend has been ongoing for the last couple of years but may substantially accelerate in 2014, says consultancy Towers Watson.
-
Opinion Pieces
Jerry Moriaty, CEO and Director of Policy at the Irish Association of Pension Funds
“While Ireland begins to show signs of economic improvement, it is clear there are still a lot of unresolved issues in the pensions sector”
-
Opinion Pieces
Are they taking my job?
Had anyone told me that McKinsey and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) would challenge the institutional investment system as I’ve been doing, I’d have laughed. But when tipping points are reached, paradigm change can happen fast. Coming hard on the heels of the Kay review and the UK fiduciary duty review, two insiders have acknowledged that institutional investor behaviour is harming business performance and society.
-
Opinion Pieces
Long-term critics
The European Commission’s report on responses to its consultation paper on long-term investing looks to be at least six months late. But don’t imagine the debate has gone away. The issue is likely to re-ignite in Brussels in the coming months after the Commission produces its assessment this quarter.
-
Opinion Pieces
Time to face facts
The Detroit bankruptcy ruling and the new bookkeeping rules from the Government Accounting Standards Board (GASB) could trigger a wave of changes for the US state and local pension funds this year. Government leaders struggling with budget problems, bondholders that lend money to municipalities and states, and unions that negotiate pension benefits all have to deal with the impact.
-
Features
Trust me, I manage money
No-one doubts that trust, ethics and integrity are central to pension and investment management.
