Pension funds are the principal sources of retirement income for millions of people in the world. Pension funds are also important contributors to the gross domestic product (GDP) of countries. This study focuses on pension funds in Kenya. Retirement income accounts for 68 percent of the total income of retirees in Kenya, while pension assets account for 30 percent of Kenya’s GDP. It is therefore important that pension funds be managed effectively, not only in Kenya, but also in other countries. The primary objective of the study is to investigate ways of enhancing pension fund efficiency by establishing the determinants of such efficiency. More specifically, the study explores the effect that the organisational culture, regulations, investment strategy, ethics, risk management, design, size and the age profile of members of pension funds exert on the efficiency of these funds. A sample of 749 pension funds was drawn from the Kenyan Retirement Benefits Authority (RBA) register. The sample selection was based on the criterion that these pension funds should have been in existence within the period 2001 to 2008. Seven hundred and forty-nine (749) questionnaires were mailed to the trustees of these pension funds. Three hundred and sixty-two (362) usable questionnaires were returned, which translated into a response rate of 48.3 per cent. Except for financial efficiency, self-constructed instruments based on secondary literature reviews were used to measure the variables in the hypothesised model to improve pension fund efficiency. Appropriate steps were taken to ensure the validity and reliability of these measuring instruments. The empirical results revealed that leadership, governance, regulations, design, membership age and size of funds had no significant influence on operational efficiency of these funds. The results further showed that the membership age, design, regulations and operational efficiency of pension funds exerted no significant influence on their financial efficiency. The results also revealed that the membership age, size and design of pension funds did not influence how these funds were led by their leadership. iv The empirical results however showed that smaller pension funds were perceived to exhibit better financial efficiency, while pension funds with membership aged 31 - 40 were perceived to be better governed compared to other age groups. Finally, in rigorous structural equation analyses, no significant relationships were found between fund regulations (independent variable), on the one hand, and fund governance and leadership (dependent variables), on the other hand. Use of simple linear regression however disclosed a significant positive relationship between the afore-mentioned independent variable and dependent variables.

The diploma thesis deals with the pension system of the Czech Republic in the context of the pension reform. It responds to the issues of unfavorable demographic developments. The starting point of the thesis is theoretical description of the classification of the pension systems. The attention paids to the characteristics of the pension system in the Czech Republic. The main part of the thesis analyzes individual pillars and highlights the changes caused by the pension reform. The practical part of the thesis focuses on the evaluation of the profitability of the funds of the third pillar, the calculation of the pensions from the first pillar pensions arising from comparing each of the three pillars of the pension reforms and proposals of the pension reforms. The aim is to analyze certain issues and evaluate how the pension reform was successful.

This master thesis aims to explore the relationship between financial literacy and probability of saving in private pension schemes in the Czech Republic among citizens older than 50 years. While the first part of this master thesis provides overview of pension systems among the OECD countries with emphasis on the Czech Republic, the second part brings the theoretical background for the financial literacy and for the measurements of financial literacy according to international studies. The last part of this master thesis serves as a practical part of this master thesis. In order to examine the relationship between financial literacy and saving for retirement, we performed a logistic regression. We set the probability of saving in a private pension scheme as a dependent variable and independent variables according to the studied literature. The last part of this master thesis also provides the summary of our conclusions about the importance of financial literacy within the decisions about saving for retirement and also the opinion that the lack of financial literacy was one of the main causes for unsuccessful pension reform in the Czech Republic where the second pillar was cancelled recently.

En el presente documento tiene como objetivo principal analizar el impacto de los límites regulatorios de inversión sobre el desempeño de la rentabilidad de las Administradoras de Pensiones y cómo la flexibilización de dichos límites puede ayudar a mejorar los rendimientos para los aportantes. El primer y segundo capítulo enmarca el ámbito donde vamos a desarrollar la presente investigación. El primero hace un repaso al Fundamento Teórico de las Administradoras de Fondo de Pensiones para saber cómo se desarrolla este modelo de negocio en Perú y bajo qué reglas se encuentra establecido. En el segundo capítulo se profundiza la teoría correspondiente a la Administración del Riesgo y la Teoría del Portafolio, fundamentos donde se centrará el marco metodológico. Finalmente, uniendo la base teórica, nos introducimos en la comprobación empírica donde podemos demostrar que los límites de inversión efectivamente reducen el espectro de rentabilidad para los portafolios; sin embargo, dada la incertidumbre en la que se desenvuelven los gestores a la hora de toma de decisiones, los límites son necesarios para construir un perfil de riesgo para los diferentes fondos administrados y porque estos ayudan a limitar las pérdidas potenciales de activos altamente volátiles. / The main objective of this document is to analyze the impact of the regulatory investment limits on the performance of the profitability of the Pension Administrators and how the flexibility of these limits can help to improve the returns for contributors. The first and second chapter frames the area where we are going to develop this research. The first one reviews the Theoretical Foundation of the Pension Fund Administrators to know how this business model is developed in Peru and under what rules it is established. In the second chapter, the theory corresponding to Risk Management and Portfolio Theory is deepened, fundamentals where the methodological framework will focus. Finally, by joining the theoretical basis, we enter the empirical test where we can demonstrate that investment limits effectively reduce the spectrum of profitability for portfolios; however, given the uncertainty in which managers develop when making decisions, the limits are necessary to build a risk profile for the different managed funds and because they help limit the potential losses of highly volatile assets. / Trabajo de investigación

År 2016 har avdragsrätten för privat pensionssparande slopats, därmed bör den som vill komplettera den allmänna pensionen och tjänstepensionen finna ett annat alternativ. Löneväxling, som innebär att en arbetstagare växlar en del av sin lön mot en utökad tjänstepension, är ett av de alternativ som finns för de som vill utöka sitt pensionssparande. Löneväxling är dock ett förmånligt alternativ endast för vissa arbetstagare, nämligen höginkomsttagare som har en lön överstigande 40 000 kronor. Mot bakgrund av att det endast är vissa arbetstagare som kan utnyttja möjligheten att löneväxla, en grupp som framförallt består av män, kan växlingen från lön till pension komma att medföra stora konsekvenser vid bodelning mellan makar som har ojämställda ekonomiska förutsättningar under äktenskapet. Utbetald lön ingår som huvudregel i bodelning mellan makar och en traditionell tjänstepension undantas som huvudregel. Uppsatsen behandlar, utifrån ett genusperspektiv, frågan om en tjänstepensionsförsäkring som består av medel från löneväxling ska ingå eller undantas vid bodelning med anledning av en äktenskapsskillnad mellan makar.

This thesis investigates impact of pension reforms implemented in the EU27 countries in time period 1993 - 2013 to implicit pension debt. We applied Holzmann's (2004) methodology to calculate implicit pension debt. Primary outcome is that in the investigated period, 21 countries have reduced its im- plicit pension debt in range of 57% to 700% of its GDP. On the other side, in Denmark, Germany and Portugal, implicit pension debt increased in range 10% - 194% of their GDP. Paper also investigated impact of individual components implemented in pension reforms. Largest impact was recorded by change of pension age. In- creasing pension age by 1 year reduced the IPD by 46% of GDP on EU27 level. This was also the most often used measure as it was implemented 42 times in the investigated period. Reforms of indexation have also significant impact on IPD, however, as indexation is linked to chosen variables to decrease IPD it is only possible to change indexation linkage. Possibilities of early retire- ment were also limited, as it was adjusted 13 times. The effect was smaller in comparison to increasing retirement age where increasing early retirement age decreased implicit pension debt by 21% of GDP on the EU27 level. This equals to impact of increasing contribution rate by 1 p.p. The smallest impact was...

1 Resume Legislation of disability and disability pension in the Czech Republic The purpose of my thesis is to analyse the Czech legislation of disability pension and its conditions of entitlement, and then to compare them with the situation in selected states in the European Union. I have chosen this particular topic, because a material security of disabled persons is an essential part of legislation in every developed country. This thesis is composed of seven chapters; each of them is divided into several subchapters. The first chapter characterises the pension scheme and its principles. There are explained the basic features of pension insurance, such as personal scope, period of insurance and financing. This chapter also lists benefits paid of pension insurance in the Czech Republic. The second chapter outlines the development of material security of disabled persons during previous centuries. It focuses on responsibility for persons unable to work, which has transferred from church to villages and later to state. Next chapter defines the term invalidity and points out several different looks at the concept of it. This chapter also includes the international definition formed by the World health organization. The chapter number four examines relevant Czech legislation. For entitlement to a disability...

M.Com. (Investment Management) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the role of information and its impact on the retirement decision. Two aspects of information were examined; the first displays the characteristics which informed individuals, and the second shows how certain information affected their decision to leave the labour market or to continue working after the age of 65. Our results confirm that being male and having a higher average labour income increases the probability of being well-informed about the pension system. Conversely, being a female, having a lower education or few skills, suffering from poor health, working in the public sector and being self-employed all have a negative impact on the likelihood of being well-informed. In regards to the effect of information on the retirement decision, the empirical results show us that a majority of the well-informed individuals will leave the labour market before the retirement age of 65. Generally speaking, those who remain employed will not take information into account when it comes to retirement planning, since majority of them have other motives than pure economic considerations.

Este trabalho teve como objetivo principal desenvolver um modelo para estimar o retorno anual de fundos privados de previdência complementar, PGBL/VGBL, que investiram em ativos de renda variável, entre 2007 e 2015. As variáveis utilizadas para discriminar as estratégias implementadas pelos gestores de fundos foram o beta do portfólio de ações, a taxa de administração cobrada pelo fundo e a porcentagem do patrimônio do fundo aplicada em ativos de renda variável. Os dados de 671 fundos diferentes foram extraídos do banco de dados Economática®. Os fundos estavam associados a 29 administradoras diferentes. Com esses dados, foi possível investigar a composição das carteiras de ações dos fundos administrados pelas principais instituições financeiras que operam no mercado brasileiro. Cada uma das principais administradoras de fundos manteve, no período, um padrão de seleção de portfólio de ativos de renda variável: a composição das carteiras acionárias de boa parte dos fundos pertencentes a uma mesma administradora, quando não idêntica, apresentou alto grau de similaridade. Para verificar se houve alguma diferenciação na estratégia de gerenciamento de fundos entre as principais administradoras, foram aplicados testes multivariados de igualdade de Wald. Foram encontradas diferenças estatisticamente significantes nas médias das variáveis que discriminaram estratégias de gestão dos fundos, dentro de um intervalo de confiança de 95%, em pelo menos uma das cinco principais administradoras de fundos. Os retornos anuais médios dos fundos, obtidos no período, estavam positiva e fortemente correlacionados ao principal índice de mercado de ações do Brasil, o Ibovespa. Esta descoberta indica uma possível passividade no gerenciamento de fundos, conforme encontrado por outros estudos acadêmicos. Especificamente, os fundos PGBL/VGBL com investimentos em ativos de renda variável que foram administrados pela administradora Itaú Unibanco SA obtiveram melhor desempenho médio, quando os retornos foram ajustados aos riscos incorridos. Para ajustar os retornos anuais ao risco, este trabalho apresentou, com base em um conjunto de premissas descritas no capítulo introdutório, uma metodologia que simplifica o cálculo das betas dos fundos, permitindo ordená-los com base em desempenhos ajustados ao risco. O modelo encontrado para estimar os retornos anuais dos fundos foi obtido por meio da técnica de regressão multinível com dados em painel. Tal modelo apontou, dentro do domínio temporal do estudo, que a cada ponto percentual adicional de taxa de administração cobrada pela instituição financeira, a estimativa de retorno ao investidor de determinado fundo era reduzida em um ponto percentual. Esta descoberta é mais uma evidência de passividade na gestão de fundos. Finalmente, a variação dos retornos anuais dos fundos é explicada principalmente pela variação na interação entre a porcentagem do patrimônio do fundo investido em ativos de renda variável e o retorno anual do Ibovespa. / This work aimed to develop a model for estimating the annual return of the most popular private retirement funds in the Brazilian market, PGBL/VGBL funds, that invested in variable-income assets, between 2007 and 2015. The variables used to discriminate the strategies implemented by the fund managers were the beta of the stock portfolio, the management fee charged by the fund, and the percentage of the fund assets applied in variable-income assets. Data from 671 different funds were extracted from the Economática® database. The funds were associated to 29 different financial institutions. With these data, it was possible to investigate the composition of the stock portfolios of the funds held by the main financial institutions that operate in the Brazilian market. Each of the main financial institutions maintained a pattern of portfolio selection for variable-income assets in the period: the composition of the equity portfolios of most of the funds managed by the same financial institution, when not identical, presented a high level of similarity. In order to verify if there was any differentiation in the fund management strategy among the main financial institutions, multivariate Wald equality tests were applied. Statistically significant differences in the average of the variables that discriminated fund strategies were found, within a 95% confidence interval, in at least one of the top fund financial institutions. The average annual returns of the funds obtained in the period were positive and strongly correlated to the main stock market index of Brazil, the Ibovespa. This finding indicates a possible passivity in fund management, as found by other academic studies. Specifically, the PGBL/VGBL funds with investments in variable-income assets that were managed by Itaú Unibanco SA obtained better average performance over the almost whole period, when returns were adjusted to the incurred risks. In order to adjust the annual returns to risk, this work presented, based on a set of assumptions described in the introductory chapter, a methodology that simplifies the calculation of the betas of the funds, allowing to order them based on risk adjusted performances. The model found to estimate the annual returns of the funds was obtained through the multilevel regression technique with data in panel. Such a model pointed out - within the time domain of the study - that at each additional percentage point of management fee charged by the financial institution, the estimated return on the investor of a given fund was reduced by the same one percentage point. This finding is one more evidence of passivity in fund management. Finally, the variation of the annual returns of the funds is mainly explained by the variation in the interaction between the percentage of the fund equity invested in variable-income assets and the annual return of the Ibovespa.