Pensionskassen setzen auf Wohnungspakete und Bürotürme, weil Bundesanleihen kaum noch etwas abwerfen. Mit ihrem Geld werden sie zu wichtigen Akteuren am Immobilienmarkt, schreibt Die Welt.
International
Danish pension funds leave PRI organisation
Six Danish pension funds have decided to leave the private organisation behind the UN-backed Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI). The investors said in a joint statement that they will continue to follow the principles, but will remain outside the organisation "until it again lives up to basic requirements for good corporate governance – including restoring membership democracy in the organisation".
A New Science of Pension Fund Management
Public pension funds have become powerful and influential players in today’s global equity markets, investing trillions of dollars of government employees› retirement nest eggs. Global pension assets are estimated at nearly $30 trillion, and these growing funds are managing an increasingly large proportion of the world’s total wealth.
As a counterweight to the short-term mentality that motivates many stock traders, public pension funds have relatively long-term investment horizons. Many operate in the sunshine of regulators, under the close scrutiny of their beneficiaries, and have a fiduciary duty to act in the interests of retirees. That puts public pension funds› investment strategy and performance in the spotlight, and rightfully so. They are responsible for the retirement security of hundreds of millions worldwide, and they are among the largest institutional investors in public companies.
Bericht über die Grenzgängerbesteuerung in der Schweiz
Der Bundesrat hat an den Bericht über die Quellenbesteuerung der als Arbeitnehmer in der Schweiz tätigen Grenzgänger verabschiedet. Der Bericht gibt einen Gesamtüberblick über die verschiedenen Abkommen, welche die Grenzgängerbesteuerung regeln, sowie über mögliche Weiterentwicklungen dieser Abkommen.
Der Bericht wurde in Erfüllung eines von Nationalrat Meinrado Robbiani 2011 eingereichten Postulats (11.3607 «Überweisung der Quellensteuer bei Grenzgängerinnen und Grenzgängern») erstellt. Im ersten Teil des Berichts wird die steuerliche Behandlung der in der Schweiz als Arbeitnehmerinnen und Arbeitnehmer tätigen Grenzgänger aufgezeigt. Diese richtet sich nach den einschlägigen Doppelbesteuerungsabkommen und den von der Schweiz mit den Nachbarstaaten bilateral vereinbarten Lösungen zur Grenzgängerbesteuerung.
Im zweiten Teil des Berichts werden mögliche Entwicklungen der bilateralen Regelungen für die Grenzgängerbesteuerung skizziert. Im dritten Teil des Berichts werden die Ausgleichsmassnahmen zugunsten gewisser Kantone analysiert. Der Bericht gelangt zum Schluss, dass die geltenden Bestimmungen die Besonderheit der Beziehungen der Schweiz zu ihren Nachbarstaaten widerspiegeln. Er hält fest, dass es wichtig ist, für die Besteuerung der Grenzgängerinnen und Grenzgänger eine angemessene Lösung vorzusehen und aufrechtzuerhalten, die auch an veränderte Rahmenbedingungen angepasst werden kann.
Schweizer Pensionskasse und deutsche Einkommenssteuer
Die Website “Aussenwirtschaftslupe” orientiert ausführlich über einen deutschen Gerichtsentscheid zur Besteuerung der Kapital-Leistungen schweizerischer Pensionskassen (im konkreten Fall der PKBS) für Grenzgänger. Festgehalten wird insbesondere, dass die Leistungen nicht steuerfrei gemäss § 3 Nr. 3 EStG sind und keine mit einer Kapitalabfindung der deutschen gesetzlichen Rentenversicherung vergleichbare Leistung. Konkret heisst es: “Die Steuerfreiheit scheitert nicht daran, dass es sich um die Kapitalabfindung einer schweizerischen Pensionskasse handelt. § 3 Nr. 3 EStG enthält keine Beschränkung auf die Leistungen eines inländischen Versorgungsträgers. Die Kläger weisen zudem zu Recht darauf hin, dass der Begriff der gesetzlichen Rentenversicherung in den Vorschriften der §§ 10 und 22 EStG nicht anders als der identische Begriff in § 3 Nr. 3 EStG ausgelegt werden kann.”
US: Pensions Make the Most of Stocks’ Surge
A roaring stock market and rising interest rates are fueling the strongest recovery in the $2.4 trillion U.S. corporate-pension sector in more than a quarter century, giving companies new flexibility in dealing with some employee-benefit costs.
Investments in the average company’s pension plan are expected to be at levels that cover 96% of future obligations at the end of the year, according to a new estimate by J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. A separate analysis by Milliman Inc., which provides actuarial products and services, puts the figure above 94%, while pension specialist Mercer says the figure was 91% at the end of October. Funding levels are up from 77% at the end of last year, according to J.P. Morgan—a figure that was essentially unchanged since the financial crisis of 2008.
FT: Risk-transfer accelerates out of pension funds
Corporate pension schemes are set to transfer more liabilities to financial institutions through so-called bulk annuity deals than they have in any year since the financial crisis.
Insurers wrote £3.9bn worth of the deals in the UK in the third quarter alone as companies turned to them to end the instability that ballooning pension deficits bring to their balance sheets. A series of deals struck between insurers and pension schemes at companies including EMI Music Group, Philips and InterContinental Hotels added up to the highest quarterly value of such transactions on record.
It has put pension schemes on track to transfer between £7bn and £8bn worth of liabilities through such arrangements in 2013, the highest in five years, according to the consultants JLT Employee Benefits.
Pension funds and the ageing population
Predictions suggest that by 2050 there will be more than two billion people aged 60 and over. According to the United Nations, this demographic shift is set, and we should not expect to return to the more youthful populations of our ancestors. To discuss the affect of an ageing population on the pensions sector, a panel of experts joined Guardian Sustainable Business for an online live chat. Here are the best bits.
Europe’s incredible shrinking pension funds landscape
The move to fewer, larger pension funds in key markets such as the Netherlands and United Kingdom could work to the advantage of asset management groups, according to the November issue of The Cerulli Edge-Global Edition. A trimming of pillar II pension funds-many defined benefit but also some defined contribution-is well underway in Europe.
Switzerland’s pension landscape, for example, shrunk from more than 2,700 vehicles six years ago to about 2,100 now. Cerulli understands that in three years there will be just 1,500. The Dutch pension watchdog is even more ambitious with a target of 100 funds. There were 672 pension schemes in the Netherlands in 2012. Elsewhere, more work is required.
«The United Kingdom has more than 200,000 schemes, which is clearly impractical,» commented Barbara Wall, a Cerulli director. «Auto-enrolment will give rise to fewer, larger pension funds known as ‹Super Trusts.› With size comes economies of scale and skills, which should result in better retirement products and improved outcomes for members.»
Italy is also struggling with too many schemes. There are currently 361 so called «pre-existing» pension funds, each tied to a specific company. Asset managers and investors want the number reduced because some are so small they cannot invest in a meaningful way.
«One likely effect of a fall in the number of pension funds in Europe is that larger asset managers could find working with the survivors easier,» said David Walker, a senior analyst at Cerulli. «Mid-size and smaller rivals may be too small to absorb large allocations.»
Another potential winner, in the Netherlands at least, is premium pension institution (PPI) vehicles, because shuttering pension funds could join them. «This would be welcome news for a structure the Dutch pension industry hoped would take off, but has partially misfired. There are fewer than 10 PPIs,» noted Walker.
“Pension Funds Love Wall Street”
According to a recent report by Cliffwater LLC, an adviser to institutional investors, from 2006 to 2012 state pension funds more than doubled their allocations to alternative investments, which include private equity, real estate, hedge funds and commodities. Totaling almost $600 billion, these nontraditional investments now constitute 24 percent of public pension fund assets. In contrast, the funds dropped their investments in stocks to 49 percent from 61 percent over the six-year period.
There’s a reason for that big move, as explained in a recent International Monetary Fund report. Over the last 10 years, the average U.S. public pension fund earned a return of 6.4 percent a year, very healthy but not enough to meet the 8 percent return guaranteed to government employees. In an effort to take pressure off the state budgets that must cover those deficiencies, the IMF reports that state pension funds have been shifting billions to alternative investments promising higher yields.
Re-insurers to test the heat from pension fund rivals
Europe’s reinsurers will soon test the strength of competition from alternative investors like pension funds, whose activity may keep a lid on reinsurance price rises and add to challenges for a sector already facing crimped investment income.
Reinsurers, including the world’s top three players Munich Re, Swiss Re and Hannover RE, gather over the weekend in the German resort of Baden-Baden for annual contract talks with insurance companies, whom they help cover the cost of disasters in exchange for part of the profit.
European pension funds move away from equities as Eurozone crisis deepens
Pension fund allocations to equities are increasingly replaced with alternatives as European investors seek to cover themselves from the increasing volatility created by the Euro-zone crisis, Mercer’s annual European Asset Allocation Survey says.
With the recent warning from the European Commission that financial disintegration was imminent, the detected trend now seems to have started even quicker and fiercer than was predicted in the study.
The survey, which looked at 1200 European pension funds with assets of over €650bn, found that a wide set of alternative asset classes are being considered by pension funds, with 50% of schemes now holding an allocation to alternatives. This marks an increase of 40% compared to last year.
Mercer’s study reveals that pension schemes in what could be called ‹traditionally equity-heavy markets›, such as the UK and Ireland, still have the largest equity weightings, although they have also seen the largest falls in equity allocations. This is mainly due to the desire to drive away from domestic equities. In the UK, average allocations to domestic and non-domestic equities fell by 4% (from 47% to 43%) during the past 12 months.
Dutch pension funds slowly make their way to recovery
Increasing share prices have resulted in a higher average coverage ratio of Dutch pension funds. Compared to June the funding levels of the funds increased by an average of 3 percentage points to 97%. However, the funds need a minimum of 105% to comply with the rules set by the Netherland’s central bank, DNB. Currently 231 schemes do not reach this funding level and will have to take drastic measures if the trend continues. This could result in 4.9 million members and 2.5 million pensioners seeing their premiums rise and their pensions cut.
Already, most pension rights and payments have not increased in 2012, seeing them lack behind inflation and wage development, thus creating a fall in spending power. At the same time, DNB announced that the total pension premiums over 2012 have risen from 16.9% to 17.4% of people’s salary.
Polish Plan on Pensions Arouses Sharp Criticism
The Polish government is expected to release details of its plan to transfer back to the state $47.6 billion worth of government bonds held by privately managed funds that invest retirement money on behalf of Poles.
Critics are calling it the most drastic nationalization of private assets since Soviet times. The government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk counters that it is no more than a bookkeeping change in the way it will handle the public’s retirement money. It has also defended the move as simply an accounting change that will not harm retirees.
Despite the government’s assurances that pensioners will eventually get their money, critics say that withdrawing the bonds, without compensating the fund managers, is tantamount to a seizure of assets.
Mercer Global Pension Index: Schweiz auf Rang 4
Das Schweizer Vorsorgesystem hat sich um einen Platz verbessert und belegt nun den vierten Rang. Damit schließt die Schweiz zu den Spitzenreitern Dänemark, Niederlande und Australien auf, die ihre jeweiligen Positionen aus dem Vorjahr behaupten konnten. Südkorea, Indien und Indonesien belegen in der Studie die letzten Plätze.
Dies ist das Ergebnis des Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index 2013, der von Mercer bereits zum fünften Mal in Kooperation mit dem Australian Centre for Financial Studies erstellt wurde. Die Studie untersucht und bewertet die Altersversorgung von 20 Ländern hinsichtlich der Kriterien „Leistungen“, „Finanzierung“ und „Rahmenbedingungen“. Dabei wurden neben den staatlichen Rentensystemen und der betrieblichen Altersversorgung auch private Anlagen und Vorsorgemaßnahmen berücksichtigt.
Dänemark belegt im Ranking weiterhin Platz 1 und erreicht als einziges Vorsorgesystem den Grade „A“. Mit dem Grade-A-Ranking werden das gut finanzierte Vorsorgesystem des Landes, die hohen Vermögenswerte und Beiträge, die angemessene Leistungen sowie ein gut reguliertes privates Vorsorgesystem anerkannt.
Das Vorsorgesystem der Schweiz hat seinen Gesamtindexwert gegenüber 2012 leicht verbessert (von 73,3 auf 73,9), was in erster Linie auf eine Zunahme der Sparquote zurückzuführen ist.