All articles by Rachel Fixsen – Page 201
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Features
Uni-directional world of funds
In Germany, institutional investors are increasingly turning away from Spezialfonds in favour of mutual funds. Experts say this is largely because of the onerous reporting requirements they have to adhere to when invested in Spezialfonds, but there are other factors at play too. “Three or four years ago, there were ...
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Features
Consultants have a role to play
Although many smaller pension funds do not find it necessary to take on the services of a custodian, it becomes necessary at a certain level of complexity. In the UK, at least, if a fund only invests in pooled funds, there is no need for a custodian since the pooled ...
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Features
Looking for an alternative
The introduction of legislative and regulatory changes means the pensions sector is going through a period of flux. This has given rise to some uncertainty. “But what we know is that the trend towards the strengthening of old-age financial provision is continuing” in the wake of the 2002 Riester reforms, ...
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Features
Goodbye to the simple life
Average returns for Belgian pension funds in 2004 were not particularly good, according to Koen de Ryck, chairman and managing director at Pragma Consulting. According to data from the Belgian Association of Pensions Institutions (BVPI) returns averaged 8.93%. The major issue within the pensions industry in Belgium last year was ...
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Features
Growing investment universe
The Fonditel pension fund in Spain, the fund of Telefonica de Espana, achieved a return on its investments of 6.39% in 2004. “This was achieved basically through the implementation of an adequate exposure to the different asset classes during the year,” the fund says. Fonditel was overweight in equities at ...
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Special Report
Active dialogue comes to fore
Gradually, socially responsible investment (SRI) is becoming more ingrained in the way that participants in the market do business. A survey by Mercer Investment Consulting in April concluded that SRI practices were becoming mainstream among investment managers. Within 10 years, it said, SRI would become a common component of mainstream ...
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Special Report
Walk before you can run
Although most people in the investment industry agree pension funds are becoming more interested in SRI, there are many different ways of approaching it. From choosing how strictly they should judge companies they invest in, to defining why they want SRI in the first place, pension funds face a series ...
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Special Report
Encouraging change in firms
Directors of the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) decided to adopt a policy of responsible investment in 1999. USS, the occupational pension fund for UK Universities, with assets of about £20bn (e30bn), is the second largest corporate pension fund in the UK. David Russell, adviser on responsible investment at USS, says ...
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Special Report
FRR reflecting interests of community
The French pensions reserve fund, Fonds de Réserve pour les Retraites (FRR), is in the process of devising and awarding SRI mandates. It has already appointed consultancy Bfinance to help with the request for proposals, and the tender process was launched at the end of June. The whole manager selection ...
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Special Report
Fund members' social conscience
Danish industry-wide pension fund PKA, which has assets of more than E12bn, has recently adjusted its ethical guidelines for the fund’s investments. But this is certainly not the first time that ethical investment has been on the fund’s agenda – PKA has worked with ethical aspects of its investments for ...
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Special Report
Mainstream-type returns is key
The UNISON staff pension scheme in the UK has committed all of its equities investment - two-thirds of total assets - to SRI. In September 2003, the fund put £100m (e150m) into an SRI mandate run by Morley Fund Management. At the time, it was the largest sum ever to ...
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Features
Cash increases your options
Increasingly, pension funds in Europe are seeking better ways of managing their cash. Peter Eerdmans, senior investment consultant at Watson Wyatt in London, sees two main reasons for this focus. Cash is carried within the fund, for instance by an equities manager who has not invested it, and this may ...
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Features
No longer plain cooking
Dutch pension fund giant PGGM does not hold cash as a strategic asset class. However the fund holds a substantial cash position, says Marc Nuijten, head of treasury and overlay management at the Dutch pension fund. “This is partly due to the fact that the fund has an allocation to ...
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Features
Mushrooming demand
Demand for currency management and overlay has ballooned in the last two years as investors embrace it as an alterative source of return. As currency managers tune their services to the needs of pension funds and other institutions, the future of the sector is beginning to take shape. Currency overlay ...
