All IPE articles in October 2003 (Magazine) – Page 2
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Features
Bringing hedge funds in from the cold
The current discussion in Germany about the deregulation of the hedge fund industry highlights an important issue faced by retail and institutional investors: how to find investments that can weather not only difficult market conditions but also offer potential for attractive future returns? The past three years have shown that ...
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Features
Keys for success in influencing Brussels
Legislation passed by the EU is not the end-result of decisions taken behind closed doors by Eurocrats or Euro-parliamentarians. The adoption process is to some extent open to the input of market players. The variety and number of interests represented on the different pieces of legislation, however, require interested stakeholders ...
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Features
Meeting the hedge capacity challenge
What is very interesting is the recent rise in pension fund investment in hedge funds. Driven by increasing membership and sponsor pressure to generate absolute returns, pension fund trustees are increasingly considering hedge funds as part of their overall investment portfolios. Now that consultants and even the UK government (Myners) ...
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Features
Funds struggle to meet their capital requirements
Danish funds suffered more than many from the market meltdown. Much of Denmark’s pension money is based on a 4.5% minimum benefit guarantee, which was the rate for 12 years until 1994. The falls in share prices and interest rates, combined with the high guarantee, have made it difficult for ...
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Features
Effecting domestic pension reforms takes centre stage
As with pension fund associations elsewhere across Europe, the Association Française des Regimes et Fonds de Pension (Afpen) has found itself devoting a large amount of its time to domestic pensions reform, and, to a lesser extent, the European pensions directive for occupational schemes. “These reforms are the widest-ranging set ...
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Features
Looking at the pros and cons
The brutal and tragic murder of Swedish foreign minister Anna Lindh permeated every aspect of the closing stages of the vote on the issue of the country joining the Euro-zone. Democracy may have been vitiated by the vote, but whether its result will be accepted as conclusive remains to be ...
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Features
Cracking the German market first
As the European pension market evolves, with new regulations creating greater diversity in the types of pensions available to workers, pension providers are faced with the issue of how to administer the different products they are now able to offer. Nowhere is this problem more marked than in Germany where ...
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Features
Switch to DC poses real problems
The UK has a long history of defined benefit (DB) pensions, but in recent years many employers have switched to defined contribution (DC) schemes, particularly for new members. As the requirements are different for each of these arrangements, changing from DB to DC presents companies with administration and governance challenges. ...
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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
Fixing pension deficits
Is the worst over? The sky over American pension funds looks a bit less cloudy, after some good news arrived both from Wall Street and from the bond market. Analysts at Merrill Lynch even calculate that the huge deficit hanging over DB pension plans – as big as $300bn (e266bn) ...
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Features
Irrational despondency follows exuberance
Pension managers are yearning for the old days, when they only had to worry about benchmarking and tracking errors. Today there are a variety of other issues to deal with, ranging from new regulations to yawning funding deficits. Such lean times, especially when they follow the fat years that pension ...
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Features
From direction to implementation
As the EFRP approaches its 2003 annual conference delegates might expect an air of congratulation at the work achieved on the pan-European pensions directive, while wondering where the organisation’s work goes from here. The buzzword going forward though will be “implementation”. Just what will be the impact on member states ...
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