More than 42% of US public pension schemes expect to significantly increase hedge fund allocations in the next two years in the latest sign retirement plans are prepared to invest in riskier assets to achieve higher returns, according to a survey by Greenwich Associates.
International
Mercer IC: 2007 European asset allocation
The average asset allocation of funds adopting their own specific benchmark
Mercer Investment Consulting
European pension funds are increasingly directing their attention to controlling investment risk and managing it more efficiently, according to a new survey by Mercer Investment Consulting (Mercer IC). The survey of over 650 European pension funds, with assets of €423 billion, found that a wider range of asset strategies is being used to capture the benefits of diversification, and more emphasis is being placed on active management (alpha) to enhance returns and reduce emphasis on capturing market return (beta).
The UK and Ireland continue to have the highest exposure to equities, at 61% and 60% respectively. However, UK funds have reduced their allocations from 62% last year and from 68% in 2003. In contrast, Germany and France have the lowest exposure to equities, at 24% and 26% respectively, followed by the Netherlands and Switzerland with allocations of 35% and Spain at 36%. Funds in these countries have correspondingly higher allocations to bonds.
Results showed that, on average, Continental European funds increased their allocations to equities from 40% to 42% over the last year. But, Ralph Frank, European director of consulting at Mercer IC, explained: “While it appears that allocations to equities increased in Continental Europe, the difference can be explained by their strong performance rather than by positive decisions to allocate more to this asset class.”
Link to 2007 European asset allocation
Press Release
NL: ABP drops investments in land mine industry
In a victory for advocates of «socially responsible» investment, one of the world’s largest pension funds said it has dumped its stock holdings in companies that make land mines. In addition, the Netherlands› ABP (assets €209 billion) said in a statement it will reveal its entire stock portfolio of around 3,000 public companies when it publishes its annual report April 12. «We had already decided to go this route,» ABP spokesman Thijs Steger said. «That plan has been a little accelerated now.» Unlike in the United States, where large mutual and pension funds have been required to publicly disclose their investments since the 1970s, European funds have no such obligation, and few do.
US: Pension Funds Take Manhattan
With commercial real estate selling at all-time highs, public pension funds are among the major beneficiaries, earning exceptional returns and wielding large amounts of liquid capital.
B: une année faste pour les fonds de pension belges
Les fonds de pension belges ont enregistré un rendement de 8,4 pc en 2006. Cette progression est due à la bonne tenue de leurs positions en actions européennes (+22,6 pc) et à la hausse du marché immobilier (+48,5 pc), selon une étude de Mercer Human Resource Consulting portant sur 97 fonds de pension belge.
IPE: New pan-European vehicle proposed
Dutch pension schemes could reform themselves to become Europe-wide financial services providers, according to government-sponsored research.
UK: A big missed stake
How did Gordon Brown whack pension funds 10 years ago and did it wreck the whole pension system? It’s a question that almost seems out of date now that the debate has moved on to an examination of Mr Brown’s integrity after his mis-handling of the ensuing political row. But as claim and counter-claim fill the pages of newspapers it is still a question worth asking.
Auszahlung von Altersguthaben bei Verlegung des Wohnsitzes ins Ausland
Auf der Website von «Angestellte Schweiz» werden die neu ab Juni geltenden Regelungen bezüglich Auszahlung der Freizügigkeit bei der Verlegung des Wohnsitzes in ein EU-Land erläutert.
Norwegian parties seal pension reform accord
Norway’s centre-left government and opposition parties reached a compromise on pension reforms meant to encourage elderly workers to stay in employment for longer and make pensions fair and sustainable.
Under the reformed system, all of a wage-earner’s income will count towards future pensions, a change intended to remove a disadvantage to part-time workers who often accrue no pension benefits beyond the minimum pension granted by the state. Prime minister Stoltenberg said that was a problem that particularly affected women. The new system is also intended to let workers approaching retirement age opt for part-time employment, officials said.
Norway, which is the world’s fifth biggest oil exporter, has saved the nation’s oil wealth in a $300 billion Government Pension Fund which invests oil and gas revenues in foreign stocks and bonds. Known commonly as the «oil fund», it is currently worth about $64,000 per inhabitant in Norway which has a population of 4.68 million. That is a cushion few countries enjoy but pension costs are still seen as a big challenge for state finances in the future. (Via Reuters News).
Anschluss der Liechtensteiner VE an Schweizer Sifo
Der Anschluss der liechtensteinischen Pensionskassen an den schweizerischen Sicherheitsfonds nimmt konkrete Formen an. Beide Regierungen haben ihre entsprechenden Anträge inzwischen an die Parlamente weitergeleitet. Die diesbezügliche bilaterale Vereinbarung wurde bereits am 19. Dezember 2006 von Regierungschef-Stellvertreter Tschütscher (Bild links) und Bundesrat Pascal Couchepin in Bern unterzeichnet. Sie ist seit dem 1. Januar dieses Jahres provisorisch in Kraft. Jetzt gab die liechtensteiner Regierung bekannt, dass sie einen Bericht und Antrag zur Ratifizierung der Vereinbarung zu Handen des Landtags verabschiedet hat.
Link to Liechtensteiner Vaterland
European Pensions: The chocolate connection
Last Tuesday (6.3.07) saw an interesting convention on the shores of lake Geneva at the sumptuous estate of Baron Rothschild and his company. The topic of the well attended conference was pan-European pensions in general and the Belgian incarnation thereof in particular. Jean-Pierre Steiner of Nestlé Capital Advisers shed some cold water on participants› hopes that pan-European pension plans might fully replace local plans in the near future. In his view, this is an ambitious long-term objective reaching beyond his active lifetime. Nevertheless, he put Nestlé’s considerable weight behind the support of Belgium as the currently most attractive location for pan-European pension funds.
Link to European Pensions //iorp.eu: The chocolate connection
UK: Pension buy-outs: a significant minority may take this route
One in four UK companies are looking to transfer pension liabilities to insurance companies within the next five years if the cost reduces sufficiently, according to delegates at a Watson Wyatt seminar.
US: Pension funds push climate change laws
Large pension funds and companies called for US-Congress to place limits on emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases blamed for global warming. The 65 signers of a letter to President Bush called for a 60 to 90 percent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels by 2050.
NL: The pension funds and the cluster-bomb makers
Dutch pension funds make no secret of their sizable investments in the arms industry. More specifically, in companies that manufacture controversial arms such as cluster bombs and land mines. The large number of innocent victims caused by these explosives has made them controversial around the globe. But for investment funds this is no reason not to do business with these companies.
Link to Radio Netherlands Worldwide
Hewlett-Packard-GV stimmt gegen erweiterte Board-Zusammensetzung
Die Aktionäre der Hewlett-Packard haben knapp einen Antrag abgelehnt, der ihnen eine größere Mitbestimmung bei der Zusammensetzung des Boards ermöglicht hätte. Etwa 52% des Kapitals votierten auf der Aktionärsversammlung des Technologiekonzerns gegen den Vorschlag. Sie waren aufgefordert zu entscheiden, ob Aktionären mit einem Anteil von mindestens 3% das Recht eingeräumt wird, zwei eigene Mitglieder für mindestens zwei Jahre in den Board zu entsenden. Der HP-Board hatte sich gegen den Vorschlag ausgesprochen.
Der Antrag war von mehreren Pension Funds gestellt worden, die dem HP-Board Missmanagement vorwerfen. Zu ihnen gehören das California Public Employees› Retirement System (Calpers), der AFSCME Employee Pension Plan, der New York State Common Retirement Fund und der Connecticut Retirement Plans and Trust Funds.