All Country Reports – Page 61

  • Country Report

    Sweden AP funds prepare for future

    November 2009 (Magazine)

    Sweden is far from resting on its pension reform laurels, the social security minister tells Pirkko Juntunen

  • Country Report

    AP1 New strategic focus

    November 2009 (Magazine)

    Shifting its focus to asset allocation and risk management and realising the importance of finding new and more efficient ways of managing assets was already apparent to Sweden’s AP1, the First National Pension Fund, ahead of what has become the worst financial crises and economic downturn in modern history.

  • Country Report

    AP2 Back to basics

    November 2009 (Magazine)

    It is often said that there is nothing like a crisis to focus the mind. This is certainly true of AP2, the Second Swedish National Pension fund, which has come through the turmoil with a new focus and a streamlined investment team.

  • Country Report

    AP3 Opportunities out of adversity

    November 2009 (Magazine)

    Despite what most in the financial sector would call a truly annus horibilis, the Third National Pension Fund in Sweden, warns against panicking and staring yourself blind on one bad year, particularly as an investor with a long investment horizon. Instead the management of the fund continues to focus on ...

  • Country Report

    AP4 Improvements despite criticism

    November 2009 (Magazine)

    Public pension funds are scrutinised in general and every decision is under the microscope, perhaps more so than in most areas in Sweden, with its tradition of open and transparent governance.

  • Country Report

    AP7 New directive leads to overhaul

    November 2009 (Magazine)

    It is probably fair to say that most pension fund managers are glad that 2009 is coming to an end and are looking towards 2010 with hope and apprehension rather than excitement. In Sweden there are, however, at least two pension fund professionals who are excited about the future.

  • Country Report

    Price for Norwegian DB guarantees

    November 2009 (Magazine)

    The Norwegian pensions oligopoly can only be challenged if employers transfer pensions to an IORP structure, argues Christian Fotland

  • A time of radical changes
    Country Report

    A time of radical changes

    November 2009 (Magazine)

    Jan Willers outlines some of the key findings of the fourth Nordic Investor Survey of Copenhagen-based Kirstein Finans, including muted interest in international diversification due to solvency concerns

  • Country Report

    Home advantage

    November 2009 (Magazine)

    Last year’s equity sell-off interrupted Nordic investors’ progress towards more international exposure, but there are good reasons to like this home bias anyway, writes Martin Steward

  • Country Report

    Wag the dog

    November 2009 (Magazine)

    Liam Kennedy spoke with the chief executive of the UK’s NAPF, Joanne Segars, about pensions, lobbying and the association’s ideas for optional indexation H

  • Country Report

    Dilemma of market gains

    October 2009 (Magazine)

    Emma Cusworth assesses the funding levels of Swiss pension funds

  • Country Report

    Positive voting opportunity

    October 2009 (Magazine)

    The Swiss vote on pensions in 2010 presents an excellent chance to make the case for a good second pillar, argues André Tapernoux

  • Country Report

    Consequences of inflation

    October 2009 (Magazine)

    Deflation and inflation have differential effects on the redistribution of risks between active members and pensioners, find Lukas Riesen and Alfred Bühler

  • Country Report

    PGGM: No ordinary fiduciary manager

    October 2009 (Magazine)

    When PGGM was spun off from the industry-wide healthcare scheme PFZW in January of 2008, a new giant fiduciary manager seemed to enter the Dutch market. But although PGGM offers ‘integrated asset management’, the organisation has shunned the fiduciary management label. PGGM Asset Management CEO, Else Bos, explains why to Mariska van der Westen

  • Country Report

    Fiduciary management moves into a new phase

    October 2009 (Magazine)

    Miranda Schoutsen spoke to five providers about changes in fiduciary services, re-orientation and a changing of the guards

  • Country Report

    Law change is just a formality

    October 2009 (Magazine)

    Swiss pension funds welcome new investment limits on alternatives because of their emphasis on the prudent investor rule, not because they make investing easier, finds Nina Röhrbein

  • Country Report

    Clear boundaries ahead

    October 2009 (Magazine)

    An amendment to the legislative framework for pensions aims to reduce the number of supervisory authorities for Pensionskassen with clearer structures and more unified rules on governance, finds Barbara Ottawa

  • Country Report

    Investing in banks: brilliant or bunk?

    September 2009 (Magazine)

    Pension schemes should invest €30bn worth of pension money in illiquid bank assets,according to a recent proposal presented to the Dutch finance minister, Wouter Bos. A great idea? Pension luminaries Jean Frijns and Dick de Beus believe it is, and explained their views to Mariska van der Westen

  • Country Report

    De-risking redefined

    September 2009 (Magazine)

    The new importance of bond yields for UK schemes’ solvency underlines the re-thinking of liability-driven investing, bond mandates and the need for tactical decision making, finds Martin Steward

  • Country Report

    A DC smörgåsbord

    September 2009 (Magazine)

    Simon Pearse recommends that UK pension trustees should use the Personal Accounts model as a benchmark for their own DC schemes