All Country Reports – Page 40
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Nordic Region: Iceland Deflating the bubble
Iceland’s post-crisis capital controls left pension funds chasing limited domestic assets, writes Jonathan Williams. The hope is that a resurgent economy will allay the risk of a bubble
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Nordic Region: Meet Elo – Finland’s newest fund
Elo’s chief executive officer, Hanna Hiidenpalo, tells Reeta Paakkinen of the challenges facing Finland’s newly merged mutual pension insurance company
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Nordic Region: Finland Eyes to the east
Reeta Paakkinen assesses Finnish pension funds’ concerns about the political situation in Russia after it annexed the Ukrainian province of Crimea
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France: SME cash lifeline gains investors’ attention
Cash-starved French SMEs are being offered competitive financing through an initiative led by Caisse des Dépôts that also provides insurers and pension funds with relatively safe income assets in a low-yield environment, finds Gilles Pouzin
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France: Larger mandates on the cards
Gilles Pouzin assesses the latest Agirc-Arcco reforms and the ramifications for asset management
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France: Search for yield drives market
French insurers now delegate more than €100bn to third-party managers, finds Richard Bruyère. But asset managers must adapt their business models if they wish to benefit
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Austria: Keeping it complicated
Austrian Pensionskassen portfolios are highly diverse, which not only makes it difficult to speak of ‘average performance’, but also complicates administration and liability management, writes Barbara Ottawa
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Germany: Few heads above the parapet
While UK funds were involved in the shareholder spring, North American investors write open letters to company boards and Dutch and Norwegian pension investors blacklist firms. Germany’s occupational sector is less keen to be seen challenging businesses, finds Jonathan Williams
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Germany: The wise man of corporate governance
Germany is awakening to the need for better corporate governance. This is the view of Christian Strenger, a former chairman of the International Corporate Governance Network, who has formidable board-level experience gained over many decades in banking and asset management.
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Germany: Funds want it their way
German Versorgungswerke have a lot of money they need to invest long-term but they are happier without European regulation, writes Barbara Ottawa
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Germany: Long-term horizons and pensions
Cornelia Schmid and Verena Menne outline practical measures that would allow German occupational pension funds to invest more in long-term assets
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Germany: Yielding low results
German Pensionskassen are faced with an unenviable situation – restrictive investment guidelines and a target return that can no longer be met through core bond holdings. Jonathan Williams explores where the funds can go in search for yield
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Germany: Tests of an ageing workforce
German pension benefits need to change to reflect the greying workforce, argue Thomas Jasper and Stephan Wildner. Companies whose workforces appreciate what is on offer will be better placed to attract and retain talent
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Germany: KVG paper trail
The first German KVG’s were granted licences at the beginning of 2014. But the real transition has only just started, according to Barbara Ottawa
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Germany: Pooling – now in Germany
Wilhelm Gold outlines the possibilities of the Investment-KG for cross-border pension pooling
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Belgium: Belgian funds on course
Belgium has doubled occupational pension fund participation in the last 10 years and returns were a healthy 6.7% in 2013, writes Iain Morse
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Belgium: A DC future: KBC Pensioenfonds
KBC has introduced a DC pension fund for new members starting from the beginning of 2014 and closed its DB fund. The fund is one of Belgium’s largest pension schemes, founded in 1941 with €1.2bn in assets and 15,500 active members.
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The Netherlands: All eyes on the homeland
Pension funds are under pressure to raise their domestic investments from the current level of 14%. Lynn Strongin Dodds looks at how they have dealt with this imperative
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The Netherlands: Real economy investment
Anton van Nunen describes a new initiative to boost lending to the Dutch SME sector
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The Netherlands: State-guaranteed securitisation
The Dutch government would like the country’s pension funds to support the housing market by investing in mortgage bonds. But details remain sketchy, as Caroline Saunders reports
