Thesis (M.P.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.P.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print.

Une théorie juridique sur les fonds de pension à partir d'une approche franco-brésilienne, tel est l'objet de notre recherche. Premièrement nous proposons l'étude d'un dialogue entre les systèmes juridiques français et brésilien en matière de retraites de base de la sécurité sociale. Il faut conceptualiser en premier lieu la notion de sécurité sociale et délimiter l'objet qui sera complété par les fonds de pension. Existent-ils et quels seraient-ils les axes communs entre les deux pays en relation aux notions juridiques des régimes de retraite de base ? Dans un second temps, nous envisagerons de formuler une théorie juridique générale des fonds de pension. Nous constatons que le lieu et la nature de ces entités de retraite sont peu précisés par la doctrine des deux pays. Où ces organismes de retraite doivent-ils agir et quel est de fait le besoin devant être protégé ? Nous formulons des principes universels. La notion de « relation juridique de retraite privée» autonome par rapport à d'autres relations, est-elle envisageable ? Deux questions principales nécessitent des réponses. Les fonds de pension sont-ils des éléments de l'ordre public économique ou de l'ordre public social ? En d'autres mots, ces organismes ont-ils une nature juridique économique ou sociale ? De plus, il convient de déterminer si les fonds de pension sont vraiment des éléments de sécurité sociale et si l'ensemble de leurs principes lui sont applicables. La complexité du sujet des fonds de pension et de leur conception juridique démontre l'intérêt de l'objet de notre recherche. Leur problématisation et la recherche de réponses nous amènent à un univers encore peu étudié par la doctrine juridique. / The subject matter of our research is a legal theory on the pension fonds from a French-Brazilian approach. Firstly, we propose the study of a dialogue between the Brazilian and the French legal systems on the base social security retirement. It is necessary in the first place to conceptualize the notion of social security and delineate the materiality of what is supposed to be completed by the pension fonds. Are there, and what would be the common axis between the two countries regarding the legal notions of the base retirement regimes? Secondly, we envisage formulating a general legal theory on pension fonds. We notice that the place and the nature of such retirement entities are scarcely treated by the two countries literature. Where these pension organisms should act and what is in fact the need that must be protected? We formulate universal principles. The notion of autonomous "private pension legal relationship" vis-à-vis of other relationships is it envisaged? Two main questions require responses. Are the pension fonds elements of economic public order or elements of social public order? In other words, do these organisms have an economic legal nature or a social nature? In addition, it is important to determine whether the pension fonds are really social security elements and if the ensemble of their principles are applicable to them. The complexity of the pension fonds topic oftheir legal conception shows the interesting character of the subject matter of our research. Challenging them and searching for responses bring us to a universe still scarcely studied by the legal literature.

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.

The graduation thesis addresses the questions of disability pensions and survivor benefits in Czech Republic. The first chapter handles the definitions of the concepts used in terms of pension insurance, the characteristic of pension system generally and the legal regulations of the contemporary system. The second chapter analyses the full and the partial disability pensions. The third chapter describes the widow's, the widower's and the orphan's pensions. The fourth chapter contains the analysis of the contemporary pension system since the implementation of the present valid legal regulation until the year 2007, with focus on disability pensions and survivor benefits. Sub chapter 4.1 contains analytical forecast of the amount spent on pensions and of the number of each type of pensioners. The fifth chapter targets the forecasting of the demographic development of the population in Czech Republic, the problems of contemporary pension system and the proposed modifications within the new reform of the pension system.

This DBA thesis is an empirical study of the new private pension programme in Thailand, an Employee’s Choice (EC) programme, which is structured as a self-directed defined contribution plan that permits workers to make their own investment decisions for their pension assets. The growing acceptance of the new pension programme is placing greater responsibility for managing pension assets on workers. The shift from committee-directed pension plans to self-directed pension plans has meant that Thai workers now must make investment decisions, such as what type of plan to choose and how to allocate their pension assets among different asset classes. This raises some concerns about the financial literacy of workers and their ability to make informed decisions. This study aims to analyse the effectiveness of this programme by examining empirical evidence from a case study. Specifically, it asks whether workers are able to make appropriate investment decisions for their pension plans as investment theory has suggested. This study has shown that the new pension programme in this case study is effective. Most importantly, the study finds that, regardless of their level of financial literacy, workers are able to make reasonable investment choices as suggested by portfolio and lifecycle investing theories. Specifically, when workers were offered investment options ranging from low risk to high risk, workers are able to choose investment choices consistent with their age and risk tolerance. However, this study finds that financial literacy does matter if workers are asked to make asset allocation decisions instead of choosing between options. The study finds that workers with low levels of financial literacy are likely to allocate less of their pension assets in equities. The findings from this study make several contributions to the growing literature on household finance. In addition, this study has a number of important management implications for pension design. With the simple plan design which offers choices ranging from low risk to high risk, workers appear to make rational investment decisions regardless of their level of financial knowledge. Therefore, the simple plan design could be very useful for workers who have less financial knowledge. This research has also shown that many workers do not plan to review or revise their portfolios as lifecycle theory has suggested. The implication from this study is that the new self-directed pension programme is not effective in the long-run. There is, therefore, a definite need for a better pension design. Innovative pension design should be used in order to minimize workers’ investment mistakes. This study advocates the use of lifecycle funds and recommends policymakers to promote and support the usage of lifecycle funds in the Thai private pension context.

The main aim of the thesis is to give comprehensive overview on the issue of pension reform in order to clarify, with political-economic and socio-economic context, the position and role of the private sector in pension system of Czech Republic and evaluate whether it is sufficient form of security for old age. The thesis analyzed trends, with specific meaning and influence of the social situation in the EU. There was made the description of pension system of Chile, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Lithuania, USA, France and Germany. The thesis also analyzed the pre-reform and after-reform pension system in Czech Republic. The last chapter was dedicated to a case study focusing on the simulation with respect of different age and income of various persons. The conclusion showed partial opt-out preference for younger people with long term savings, or older people with income at least above 40.000,-CZK. It also proved benefits of additional savings, especially with state aid, tax relief and employer contribution. The thesis proved the fact that private sector is able to provide the security for old age people only with sufficiently high income, sufficiently long period of savings and also only with personal responsibility of every person alone. In all other cases the savings in private sector must be comprehend as an additional saving and not as an adequate substitute for state pension.

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Financial innovation in the U.S. economy has proceeded at a dynamic rate throughout this century. The number and variety of financial institutions which have evolved and thrived testify to our inventiveness. Whether the expanding .. role of these specialized intermediaries have contributed to the nation's economic growth is a long-standing and much debated question, even today. As financial institutions .go, pension plans are not young, nor are they peculiar to the United States; factors impelling their growth and development were common to most industrial countries. Only relatively recently, however, have the effects on private saving of the growth of pension systems, with their particular attributes, been recognized as singularly important in comparison with other financial institutions conceived in the past. / Master of Arts