Pension fund returns can be decomposed into different sources, including market movements, asset allocation policy, and active portfolio management. We use a unique database covering the asset allocations of US defined-benefit pension funds for the period 1990–2008, and we test the role of...

Regulators often set value-at-risk (VaR) constraints to limit the portfolio risk of institutional investors. For some investors, notably pension funds, the VaR constraint is enforced over a horizon which is significantly shorter than the investment horizon of the investor. Our paper aims to...

This study analyses a sample of 8,255 UK personal pension funds operated by 60 providers over a 30 years’ period (1980 – 2009) in order to assess their short- and long-term performance and argues that it is inappropriate to evaluate pension funds using methods applied to evaluate mutual...

This paper studies the relationship between fund and provider characteristics, and fund performance using a sample of 4,197 U.K personal pension funds operated by 35 providers over a 30 years’ period (1980 – 2009). The fund performance is measured on an annual basis (short-term) and over the...

In this article we analyze the expected risk of pension funds with different risk profiles in the proxy life-cycle model of investments for the 2nd pillar pension scheme in Croatia. The benefits of implementing proxy life-cycle investments, compared to the previous model of mandatory pension...

The paper documents herding among pension fund managers in Poland. Herding occurs despite the lack of an economically significant link between fund performance and the flow of new capital or members. To explain this phenomenon, the paper outlines a model that attributes herding to performance...

Pension fund returns can be decomposed into different sources, including market movements, asset allocation policy, and active portfolio management. We use a unique database covering the asset allocations of US defined-benefit pension funds for the period 1990-2008, and we test the role of each...

Latvian employees have to choose a pension fund for the second-pillar of the Latvian pension system. These pension funds invest about 85% in domestic assets. In this paper, we address the question why this strong home bias might exist. Firstly, we conclude that the Latvian pension law is strict...

It has been debated that pension funds should have limitations on their asset allocation, based on the risk profile of the different financial instruments available on the financial markets. This issue proves to be highly relevant at times of market crisis, when a regulation establishing limits...

The paper presents the needs of a reliable pension fund system as a consequence of the ageing of the population. The sustainability of the privately administrated pension funds is given by the administrators’ investment decision. The pension fund participants would aim for a low contribution...