All articles by Maria Teresa Cometto – Page 10
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Country Report
Less is more
The new head of the Covip supervisor has taken office with a lively agenda. Maria Teresa Cometto examines his new proposals
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Opinion Pieces
PBGC woes
What a difference nine months can make. At the end of last September, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) closed its fiscal year with a deficit of ‘only’ $11bn (€7.9bn) and its director Charles Millard was busy implementing his new “less conservative” investment strategy, under which the majority of the $55bn assets was to be shifted out of bonds and into riskier stocks and alternative asset classes.
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Opinion Pieces
University challenge
Even the ‘smartest’ money is suffering. US university endowments, the early adopters of alternative and esoteric investments, which were often recommended by their most brilliant alumni, are experiencing huge problems because of the market downturn and the illiquidity of those assets, compounded by the increase of expenses and the decline of revenues, including donations.
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Opinion Pieces
Physician, heal thyself
Are pension funds victims of the current financial meltdown or are they part of the problem?
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Opinion Pieces
A consultant union
A new investment consulting player was born this year, the result of the merger between Mercer and Callan. The combined Mercer-Callan entity employs around 375 people, controls about 20% of the US market and has offices in 14 cities.
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FeaturesPensions in Obama’s sights
When Barack Obama is inaugurated as president in January 2009, provisions affecting the pension fund industry could well be an important part of his intended new economic stimulus. But this follows little debate about the retirement system during the campaign, except when US employee’s losses in 401(k) individual accounts were ...
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FeaturesSlow progress expected
A long-time insider outlines the options available to the new pensions minister to Maria Teresa Cometto
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Features
New Jersey buys financials cheaply
These days the most talked about pension fund in the US is New Jersey State’s Retirement System. With $81bn (€54.7bn) in assets, it is the ninth largest US public pension fund. It is also the instigator of a highly innovative attempt to team with other large institutional investors, including foreign ...
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Features
Default dilemmas
Now that the US Department of Labor (DoL) has defined which default investments for 401(k) participants are right, will employers’ lives be easier? Not necessarily.
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Features
Too much of a good thing?
How much information is too much? One might ask that question after reading the provisions of the 401(k) Fair Disclosure for Retirement Security Act of 2007, a new bill that is sponsored by George Miller, a Democrat congressman from California. Last month a hearing on the bill was held at ...
