Paula Garrido
- News
Spain says it postpones pension reform
SPAIN – The Spanish government has announced that there will be no reform of the pensions system before next year's general election.
- News
UK opposition seeks urgent pension reform
UK - The UK should urgently undertake the necessary reforms to become "one nation in pensions", said the opposition's pensions spokesman.
- News
New staff miss out on final salary schemes - NAPF
UK - Only 19% of UK employers offer a final salary pension scheme to new employees according to a research published today by the NAPF.
- News
NAPF in corporate governance joint venture
UK - UK investors will soon have better access to corporate governance analysis and electronic voting as a result of a joint venture between the National Association of Pension Funds and the US-based governance organisation, Institutional Shareholder Services.
- News
UK pensions policy “not quite right”
UK - The UK policy framework for pensions is not yet 'quite right', according to delegates attending the NAPF Annual Conference in Glasgow.
- Features
Blown off course
Professionals in the Spanish pensions market will remember this month as the end of a long process during which Spanish companies were forced, by law, to externalise their pension reserves by establishing a pension fund or an insurance contract. Previous deadlines regarding this outsourcing were postponed due to disagreements among ...
- Features
Outsourcing of e60bn mooted
Concerns about the medium term solvency of the Spanish social security system have been actively discussed not only in Spain but also in Brussels. At the end of last year the European Commission said that the Spanish government was not providing enough detailed information regarding the long term sustainability of ...
- Features
Portugal goes on hold
The start of the year in Portugal was marked by political uncertainties marked by the resignation of prime minister António Guterres following local election defeats. This, added to the disappointing performance in the financial markets and the unhealthy Portuguese economy, has resulted in a difficult period for the development of ...
- Features
Living in tougher times
Too high expectations regarding the development of the pension industry in Germany during this year have resulted in disappointment among the asset management community. The forecast growth in assets that the pension reform was supposed to bring into the institutional arena has not materialised, partly due to market conditions but ...
- Features
Power of Master KAGs
If there is a development in the German market that could change the structure of the asset management industry as a whole, is the development of the ‘master KAGs’, a new multi-manager structure that has hit the headlines of the German financial press during the last few months. The development ...
- Features
New product shakes up market
In June the Austrian parliament finally adopted the government bill reforming the country’s severance pay system that will definitely have an important impact on the development of occupational pensions. The discussions regarding the reform of the statutory severance pay, the Abertigung, started in the late 1990s when the Austrian Trade ...
- 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 ...
- Features
Under a cloud
One of the most developed markets in Europe, the Swiss pension fund industry is now entering a new phase of maturity. Disappointing investment returns and shrinking reserves are pushing institutional investors to rethink their strategies to find new investment solutions to face the future. Overall, investors are not satisfied with ...
- Features
Lowering the return hurdle
It has been one of the hot issues of the market and the government finally decided to do something about it. The minimum interest rate for occupational pensions in Switzerland of 4% has been seen as a huge legal constraint that was making asset manager and insurers’ lives very difficult ...
- Features
Still signs of life
The fund management industry in Switzerland continues to be one of the most dynamic markets in Europe, despite growth of assets slowing down. According to figures published by the Swiss Fund Association (SFA), the country’s fund market didn’t attract significant inflows during last year, even though the number of new ...
- Features
Taking the slow road to reform
The development of the Italian pension fund industry has slowed down. Political discussions regarding the reform of the system, changes in the labour market and the never-ending negotiations about the transfer of the TFR into pensions, have increased uncertainty about the future growth of the industry. According to a recent ...
- Features
New index gives better picture of market
The Italian equity market is awaiting the arrival of a new index. The Italian stock exchange, Borsa Italiana, and global equity index provider Standard & Poor’s have established a partnership to launch a new index intended to become the benchmark for the Italian equity market. The new index, to be ...