February 2020

22Feb

Japan’s Public Sector Balance Sheet

By Yugo Koshima This paper compiles and reviews the evolution of Japan's Public Sector Balance Sheet (PSBS). In the past, large crossholdings of assets and liabilities within the public sector played a role in sustaining a high level of public debt and low interest rates. The Fiscal Investment and Loan Fund (FILF) channeled all postal deposits and pension savings to financing of public sector borrowing. After the FILF refrom in 2000, however, the Post Bank and pension funds shifted their...

February 22, 2020
Articles, Pension Management, , , , ,
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22Feb

Long-Term Investing by Pension Funds. How to Effectively Design and Implement Mandates: A Dutch Case Study

By Alfred Slager, Marcel Jeucken Pension funds are increasingly trying to embed long-term investing choices within their portfolios. Many publications focus on the rationale for long term investing; however, it remains unclear what long term investing actually is, what sets it apart from the current way of investing, and how it should add value. The purpose of this paper is to provide a practical framework for pension fund trustees aiming to bolster and implement long term investing. In doing so,...

February 22, 2020
Articles, Investment, Pension Management, ,
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January 2020

24Jan

Achieving Investment Excellence: A Practical Guide for Trustees of Pension Funds, Endowments and Foundations

By Kees Koedijk, Alfred Slager, Jaap van Dam Achieving Investment Excellence offers trustees and asset managers a comprehensive handbook for improving the quality of their investments. With a stated goal of substantially and sustainably improving annual returns, this book clarifies and demystifies important concepts surrounding trustee duties and responsibilities, investment strategies, analysis, evaluation and much more. Low interest rates are making the high cost of future pension payouts fraught with tension, even as the time and knowledge required to...

January 24, 2020
Books, Investment, Pension Management, ,
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December 2019

27Dec

The Pan-European Pension Product Regulation: A Huge Opportunity for the Luxembourg Fund Industry

By Sebastiaan Niels Hooghiemstra Currently, there is a dynamic and ongoing improvement in life expectancies that is not accounted for in pension systems designed to provide financial security in retirement. All over Europe, there are currently employment-based (2nd pillar) pension funds and first pillar pay-as-you-go (PAYG) state pensions systems that are facing huge funding deficits as a result of that. Recently both the EU parliament and the EU Council took their stance on the introduction of an European legal...

December 27, 2019
Articles, Pension design, Pension Management, , ,
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23Dec

Insurance and Behavioral Economics: Improving Decisions in the Most Misunderstood Industry

By Howard C Kunreuther Insurance is an extraordinarily useful tool to manage risk. When it works as intended, it provides financial protection to individuals and a profitable business model for insurance firms and their investors. But it is broadly misunderstood by consumers, regulators, and insurance executives. This book looks at the behavior of individuals at risk, insurance industry decision makers, and policy makers at the local, state, and federal level involved in the selling, buying, and regulating of...

December 23, 2019
Books, Books, Pension Management, ,
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16Dec

Ethics, ESG, and ERISA: Ethical-Factor Investing of Savings and Retirement Benefit

By Albert Feuer (Law Offices of Albert Feuer) Ethical-factor investing is investment decision-making that takes into account ethical factors. It includes faith-based investing, Environmental, Social or Governance (ESG) investing, and sustainable investing. It is becoming more and more widespread. This has occurred despite a lack of widely accepted definitions, performance metrics, or ethical preferences. There is increasing broad agreement that some ethical factors highlight business risks and opportunities in a predictable fashion, such as the effects of climate change, human...

December 16, 2019
Articles, Pension design, Pension Management, , , , ,
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11Dec

MySuper Product Heatmap

By APRA The MySuper Product Heatmap provides assessments of the performance of every MySuper superannuation product. The heatmap provides stakeholders with transparency on the outcomes being delivered by all trustees providing MySuper products. It is designed to lift industry practices and enhance member outcomes by publicly identifying which MySuper products are underperforming and the areas they need to improve. It uses a graduating colour scheme to provide credible, clear and comparable insights into MySuper products across three areas: investment performance, fees...

December 11, 2019
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10Dec

Asset & Wealth management Revolution

By PwC The world’s Asset & Wealth Management (AWM) industry has turned its eyes to the Latin American (LatAm) region, with many fund managers looking for growth in the burgeoning market. However, the fabric underlying the industry is set to be upended in the coming years as new clients enter the space and the existing, bank dominated, distribution model begins to face challenges as clients look for new, and cheaper, ways of buying products. While economic uncertainty in the region is...

December 10, 2019
Books, Investing, Pension Management, Reports, ,
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November 2019

15Nov

Financial Behavior: Players, Services, Products, and Markets

By University Professor of Finance and Kogod Research Professor H Kent Baker, Samuel P Black III Professor of Finance and Risk Management Director Black School of Business Greg Filbeck, Assistant Professor of Financial Management Victor Ricciardi Financial Behavior: Players, Services, Products, and Markets provides a synthesis of the theoretical and empirical literature on the financial behavior of major stakeholders, financial services, investment products, and financial markets. The book offers a different way of looking at financial and...

November 15, 2019
Books, Labor Market, Pension Management, System Sustainability,
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04Nov

Shift: Digital Marketing Secrets of Insurance Agents and Financial Advisors

By Jeremiah D Desmarais Insurance agents and financial advisors are being taught outdated marketing and sales strategies to grow their businesses. Cold calling, seminars, online leads, networking groups and display ads are showing less returns. At the same time, according to Google, every 5 seconds someone is searching for a financial or insurance product to meet their needs, yet most agents are unaware of how to reach this growing market. Shift is a compilation of exclusive, rarely-before-seen techniques, strategies and best practices used...

November 4, 2019
Books, Books, Pension Management
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