All IPE articles in October 2002 (Magazine) – Page 2
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Features
Why home teams are winners
As the trend towards outsourcing continues to gather pace, and both external managers and investment consultants intensify their marketing efforts, internal managers must be feeling a little beleaguered. But they are sure to find some reassurance in the WM Company’s latest analysis of internal investment management in the UK pensions ...
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Features
Still loyal to the home market
The average pension fund in Finland invested 58% of total assets in Finnish bonds, according to data from Watson Wyatt at the end of 2000. The total exposure of pension fund portfolios to fixed income vehicles represented around 74% of total assets, with the proportion invested in bonds in the ...
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Features
Part of funds' win-win strategies
Should pension scheme sponsors implement their pension promise through dedicated, internal ‘subsidiaries’? Or should they outsource the implementation function to external service providers? There is no simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer here. However, we can build a strategic framework to explore the pros and cons of outsourcing all or part ...
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Features
Small market, foreign focus
The small size of the domestic equity market has forced investors to invest more abroad, mainly in the Euro-zone; less than 5% of total assets are invested in Belgian equities. The small size of the average Belgium pension fund and tax benefits have encouraged the use of investment funds, with ...
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Features
Explosion of new products
It hasn’t been long since the first exchange-traded funds (ETFs) were launched in Europe but the growth and development that this market has experienced during the last couple of years have been quite significant. Although the ETFs concept arrived in Europe around seven years after it first appeared in the ...
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Features
Resisting the European trend
Belgium has been in the spotlight of the European pension fund industry since it decided not to back the EU directive on occupational pensions, presented for approval in Spain last June. This decision did not come as a surprise. The Belgians want the directive to include more restrictions on pension ...
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Features
Europe next in line
The European human resources (HR) and finance community at medium and large corporations is going through a rapid transformation due to a phenomenon that the US, and to a lesser extent the UK, has been experiencing for the past 15 years – outsourcing. And, based on the experience of the ...
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Features
Into a new era
The long-awaited Irish Pension Bill was passed in March, establishing a new legal framework that includes the creation of Personal Retirement Savings Accounts (PRSAs), amendments to the occupational system and the introduction of a pensions ombudsman with power to investigate any complaints against occupational plans. The PRSAs, similar to the ...
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Features
Equity exposure slow to grow
Although Danish pension funds some years ago began to diversify towards a greater exposure to equities, their portfolios remained bond-oriented. According to data from Nykredit Markets, the overall allocation of the pensions sector in Denmark at the end of June showed little change from that registered during the previous two ...
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Features
Equities still take second place
Although the percentage of equities in French institutional portfolios has increased during the past few years, fixed income investments still attract the higher proportion of assets. According to figures from Watson Wyatt, at the end of 2000 French investors only allocated around 13% of total assets to equities and just ...
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Features
The ETF operating environment
An Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) or ‘tracker’ as it is known in continental Europe is a single share that gives the investor the benefit of exposure to a broad benchmark, sector, country or geographic zone in a single transaction. Essentially ETFs, allow you to enjoy both the flexibility of a ...
