With the issuing of Pension Funds circular PF117 in 2004 in South Africa, regulation required valuation assumptions for defined benefit pension funds to be on a best-estimate basis. Allowance for prudence was to be made through explicit contingency reserves, in order to increase reporting transparency. These reserves for prudence, however, were not permitted to put the fund into deficit (the no-deficit clause). Analysis is conducted to understand the risk that PF117 poses to pension fund sponsors and members under two key measures: contribution rate risk and solvency risk. A stochastic model of a typical South African defined benefit fund is constructed with simulations run to determine the impact of the PF117 requirements. Findings show that a best-estimate funding basis, coupled with the no-deficit clause, results in significant risk under both contribution rate and solvency risk measures, particularly in the short-term. To mitigate these risks, alternative ways of introducing conservatism into the funding basis are required, with possible options including incorporating margins into investment return assumptions or the removal of the no-deficit clause.

Since their creation in Europe in the seventeenth century, pension funds have grown to become one of the main sources of capital in the world. A number of role players ultimately manage the pension money of members on their behalf. Accordingly, the focus of this study is on the role players involved in the actual investment of pension fund money. For the purposes of the study, the key role players in the pension fund investment chain are identified as pension fund trustees, asset managers and asset consultants. These role players have a specific responsibility in terms of the service that they ought to provide. One of the key aspects of this dissertation is therefore determining whether their responsibility is a fiduciary responsibility. The main purpose of the study is, however, to answer one overarching research question: Does fiduciary responsibility create barriers to the implementation of responsible investment in the South African pension fund investment chain? Clearly, there are two key terms in this research question, fiduciary responsibility and responsible investment. It is suggested that responsible investment takes at least two forms: a “business case” form1 in which environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues are considered only in so far as they are financially material; and a social form in which ESG issues are considered over maximising risk adjusted financial returns. Three key questions were asked in order to find qualitative descriptions and interpretations of fiduciary responsibility: Question 1: Are the key role players in the pension fund investment chain fiduciaries? Question 2: If so, to whom do the key role players owe their fiduciary duty? Question 3: What are the fiduciary duties of the key role players in the pension fund investment chain? It is also suggested that the duty to act in the best interests of beneficiaries could be described as the all-encompassing fiduciary duty. Two main interpretations of the / Private Law / (LL.M.(Private Law))

The topic of infrastructure investment has emerged as a critical public policy issue over the last thirty years as governments grapple with an infrastructure deficit that has become one of the great global challenges of our time. Through the simultaneous processes of neo-liberalisation and globalisation, the urban infrastructure landscape has emerged as an attractive investment area for large financial institutions. With the recent Global Financial Crisis further exacerbating both the funding and growth lifting needs of nations, the urgency of linking institutional investors with urban infrastructure assets is more apparent than ever. This thesis looks at the evolving dynamics associated with the growing involvement of the financial industry in the provision of urban infrastructure assets. This is achieved by using a relational perspective, studying the interactions of financial actors, while simultaneously being aware that these decisions are made within a larger political economic context. It is argued that the complex, heterogeneous and long-term nature of institutional infrastructure investing requires a multi-disciplinary relational economic geography framework. Specifically, relational theory is used to explore the informational content and geographical structure of the infrastructure financial product, the influence of government decision-making, the corporate governance of infrastructure investments and the investment relationship between investors and financial intermediaries. Despite exponential growth in the field over the last decade, the infrastructure financial product has a level of sophistication and obscurity that prohibits it from being classed a transparent investment area, highlighting the importance of a relational approach to investments. From the case study on Auckland International Airport Ltd., it is shown that through a relational form of light-handed regulatory contract, the government plays a central role in affecting the favourable performance of an economically significant asset. The explication of the Spanish-led ADI consortium acquisition of UK airport operating company BAA illustrates the need for ‘glocal’ infrastructure governance to incorporate a wider stakeholder perspective as well as an appropriate shareholder wealth maximisation strategy. And finally, through analysing the relationships between investment partners for the infrastructure investment process, investment consultants are playing a crucial role to help align interests and promote the long-term relational approach to investing for the infrastructure asset class. In an age where infrastructure investment has been recognised by many nations around the world as the most important growth lifting strategy, this thesis provides a deeper understanding of how a relational approach can facilitate successful private institutional infrastructure investment.

[pt] Asset and Liability Management ou ALM pode ser definido como um processo gestão de ativos e passivos de forma coordenada com a finalidade de atingir os objetivos financeiros de uma organização. No caso dos fundos de pensão, o ALM consiste fundamentalmente na determinação da política ótima de investimentos. Esta deverá maximizar o capital acumulado através de contribuições dos participantes e do retorno dos investimentos ao mesmo tempo em que minimiza o risco do não cumprimento das obrigações do fundo. A aplicação de modelos de programação estocástica para problemas de ALM em fundos de pensão é dificultada pelos longos prazos envolvidos - a duração dos benefícios pode ultrapassar cem anos. No entanto, os modelos de programação estocástica propostos na literatura limitam o horizonte de planejamento a poucas décadas, ao final das quais é imposta uma restrição de capital mínimo com vistas a controlar o risco de equilíbrio relativo ao restante da vigência do fundo. Este trabalho propõe um novo método para incorporar o risco de equilíbrio na determinação do capital mínimo final do modelo de programação estocástica aplicado a um fundo de pensão no contexto brasileiro. No método proposto, o cálculo da probabilidade de insolvência leva em consideração que os benefícios futuros devem ser trazidos a valor presente pela rentabilidade futura da carteira, cuja distribuição de probabilidades é levantada através de um processo de reamostragem (bootstrap) dos cenários embutidos na solução do problema de programação estocástica. O método proposto permite evidenciar que a probabilidade de insolvência medida tradicionalmente utilizada subestima acentuadamente o risco de equilíbrio. / [en] Asset and Liability Management or ALM can be defined as a process of managing coordinately assets and liabilities in an attempt to achieve an organization´s financial objectives. For instance, a pension fund ALM consists in determining the optimal investment policy which is the one that maximizes wealth accumulated by the contributions and minimizes the equilibrium risk defined as the insolvency probability, i.e., the probability that the fund won´t be able to pay all benefits during the planning horizon. The use of stochastic programming models for ALM problems is more difficult because of the long planning horizon. However stochastic programming models are proposed in the literature reducing the planning horizon and including a chance constraint or an objective function penalization to control the equilibrium risk for the non-considered period. On this work, a new method for measuring and controlling the equilibrium risk is proposed determining capital requirement of a Brazilian pension fund for the nonconsidered period. This developed method considers the portfolio return as the discount rate of all net liability flows. The distribution of this discount rate conditioned on the optimal decisions is estimated by bootstrapping the portfolio return embedded on the stochastic programming solution. To sum up, this method shows that the usual insolvency probability of the previous models actually underestimates the pension fund`s equilibrium risk.

[pt] O medo pode reprimir a criatividade, a inovação e o talento dos indivíduos, sendo capaz de gerar desgostos, frustrações e posturas defensivas. Por outro lado, o medo pode ser interpretado como algo positivo e uma administração eficaz desse sentimento pode transformá-lo num ponto de apoio de interação social ou fonte de motivação, contribuindo para o desempenho de gerentes e colaboradores de uma organização. O principal objetivo deste estudo é analisar como as diferenças geracionais e as variáveis demográficas - tais como gênero, tipo de plano de previdência, nível hierárquico, tempo no cargo e tempo na empresa - influenciam na intensidade do medo de errar no ambiente organizacional. Para tanto, foi aplicado o questionário Performance Failure Appraisal Inventory – PFAI (CONROY, 2002) a uma amostra intencional, não probabilística, escolhida por acessibilidade, de funcionários de um Fundo de Pensão do Rio de Janeiro. O tratamento estatístico dos dados revelou baixa intensidade do medo de errar relacionado às gerações, sendo que a Geração X apresentou os maiores índices, colocando em evidência as limitações relacionadas à expressão de sentimentos, principalmente de sentimentos negativos. Por outro lado, gênero e tempo no cargo apresentaram resultados significativos, indicando que mulheres e funcionários em posições hierarquicamente inferiores tendem a sentir com mais intensidade o medo de errar. / [en] Fear can restrain creativity, innovation and the talent of individuals, being able to generate disgusts, frustrations and defensive postures. On the other hand, fear can be interpreted as something positive and effective administration of this sentiment can turn it into a foundation of social interaction or source of motivation, contributing to the performance of managers and employees of an organization. The main objective of this study is to examine how generational differences and demographic variables - such as gender , type of pension plan , hierarchical level , time in office and time in the company - influence the intensity of the fear of failure in the organizational environment. In order to accomplish that, the Performance Failure Appraisal Inventory questionnaire was applied - PFAI ( Conroy, 2002) to a non-probabilistic and non-intentional sample, chosen by accessibility of a Pension Fund employees from Rio de Janeiro. Statistical analysis of the data revealed low intensity of the fear of failure related to generations, and Generation X showed the highest rates, highlighting the limitations related to the expression of feelings, especially negative ones, such as fear. On the other hand, gender and time in office showed significant results, indicating that women and employees in junior positions tend to feel more intensely the fear of making mistakes.

Este trabalho analisa as condições atuariais para criação do Fundo previdenciário federal (FUNPRESP) e como será o novo sistema previdenciário após o funcionamento desse Fundo que finalmente concluirá, em âmbito federal, as reformas iniciadas em 1998. A partir desse estudo concluímos que o novo sistema previdenciário, sistema misto, pagará benefícios menores para os servidores que ingressarem depois da criação do fundo quando comparados com os atuais servidores. Em razão disso os atuais servidores, analisando apenas os ganhos financeiros, não migrarão para o Fundo federal conforme é esperado pelo Governo. As mulheres receberão nesse novo sistema previdenciário benefícios menores em função do menor tempo de contribuição, expectativa de vida maior e menor taxa de crescimento salarial. Mas os grandes avanços com a criação do fundo serão o equilíbrio atuarial do sistema federal de previdência e o fim das grandes desigualdades entre esse sistema e o regime geral de previdência. A criação do Fundo fará com que os benefícios fiquem atrelados diretamente à contribuição de cada servidor, diferentemente do que ocorria antes quando os benefícios eram proporcionais à remuneração do servidor - até 2003 era equivalente a última remuneração e depois de 2003 é equivalente à média das 80% maiores remunerações. / The present work analyzes the actuarial conditions for the creation of the Brazilian Federal Social Security Fund (FUNPRESP) and how the new Social Security System will work after the effective functioning of the Fund. We could say that in the federal sphere it will finally finish off the reforms initiated in 1998. We conclude that the new Social Security System (called \"mixed system\") will provide lower payments to the beneficiaries who start to contribute after the creation of the Fund. In consequence, the current beneficiaries will not migrate to the new Federal Fund, as the government expects, because some simple analysis will make they conclude that they would incur into financial losses. Along with that, female beneficiaries will receive fewer benefits than men from that new Social Security System, basically for three reasons: a) their shorter time of contribution; b), their higher life expectancy; and c), the lower rate at which their payments actually grow. We also conclude that the real advantages brought by the creation of the Fund are: a) the actuarial equilibrium of the Federal Social Security System, and b) the end of the huge inequalities between that system and the \"general\" Brazilian Social Security System (INSS). The creation of the Fund will link the benefits directly to the contribution of each servant, as opposed to when benefits were proportional to the servant\'s pay (equal to it until 2003, or equivalent to the average of the 80% highest salaries).

This study provides a view of the decision-making process of Dutch company pension funds. The success of this research was the exceptional granting of access to four cases. Lack of such access could very well be the reason why research of this nature has not been previously achieved. The financial health of pension funds, expressed by the coverage ratio, showed a decline in 2008. Research has shown that there is a relationship between decision-making processes and outcome. Were the processes appropriate to set up and maintain a sufficient coverage ratio? A tailor-made conceptual research model has been developed and used as an analysis aid to research the TO BE situation based on legal requirements and factional documents and the AS IS situation based on empirical data. The model made it feasible to shed light on the implementation of good pension fund governance principles and decision-making process, which is a contribution to the current gap in research. The research showed that there is a relationship between the implementation of pension fund governance principles and appropriate decision-making processes. It also showed that there is a relationship between an appropriate decision-making process and coverage ratio. Both conclusions are not statistically proven due to the lack of the statistical significance, but are qualitative analysed and confirmed in the conducted case studies. It is suggested to use the research model by supervisor or pension funds to establish the mismatch between the implementation of pension fund governance principles and decision-making processes to enhance the quality of decision-making processes and outcome.

Este trabalho apresenta uma abordagem via programação estocástica linear para a tomada de decisão de investimento em um fundo de pensão com plano de benefícios do tipo benefício definido. Propõe-se uma nova metodologia para a definição da alocação da carteira do fundo no instante inicial baseada na média de vários cenários econômicos gerados aleatoriamente. Como exemplo de aplicação, essa metodologia é utilizada para resolver o problema da alocação inicial da carteira de um grande fundo de pensão brasileiro e a alocação inicial obtida é avaliada em termos da probabilidade de insolvência e VaR, valor em risco, do fundo no instante final do horizonte de planejamento de investimento. / This paper presents an approach via linear stochastic programming for investment decision making in a defined benefit pension fund plan. It proposes a new methodology for defining the allocation of the portfolio at the initial time based on the average of several randomly generated economic scenarios. As an illustrative example, this methodology is used to solve the problem of portfolio initial allocation of a large Brazilian pension fund and the obtained initial allocation is evaluated in terms of funds probability of default and VaR, Value-at-Risk, at the final time of the investment planning horizon.

The goal of the submitted thesis "Analysis of supplementary pension insurance in Czech Republic in comparison with Slovak Republic" is analyze and compare currently functioning supplementary pension system in our country and Slovak Republic. The whole thesis is focused on third pillar of pension system, namely the supplementary pension insurance. The thesis contains difficulties and issues that the pension system faces. There is also analyzed upcoming pension reform and comparison of actual pension scheme with the future one. Part of this thesis is also analysis of pension funds currently operating in the Czech pension insurance market and selection of optimal pension fund.

Universidade Federal do Cearà / O problema do envelhecimento populacional, entre outros aspectos, tem levado vÃrios paÃses, inclusive o Brasil, a repensar os seus sistemas previdenciÃrios. Inevitavelmente, as discussÃes levam ao tema dos fundos de pensÃo, tanto privados quanto governamentais. Essa dissertaÃÃo tem por objetivo avaliar o tamanho do mercado de fundos de pensÃo nos Estados brasileiros, utilizando variÃveis que procuram explicar o tamanho do mercado tais como: educaÃÃo (EDU25); percentual da populaÃÃo acima dos 65 anos (PP65) que busca captar a influÃncia do envelhecimento populacional no desenvolvimento do mercado de previdÃncia privada; quantidade de participantes (PFP); aposentados (PAFP) que fazem parte do setor e seus respectivos dependentes (DFP). A amostra das variÃveis utilizada para os cÃlculos economÃtricos, referente ao perÃodo de 1996 a 2000, das Unidades Federativas do Brasil, com exceÃÃo dos Estados da RegiÃo Norte, por indisponibilidade dos dados relativos à populaÃÃo acima dos 65 anos e do Distrito Federal, por apresentar grandes variaÃÃes das variÃveis em comparaÃÃo Ãs demais da amostra, teve como resultado 95 observaÃÃes. Foi submetida a uma investigaÃÃo empÃrica conduzida atravÃs de uma anÃlise de regressÃo com dados em painel, estimada pelo mÃtodo GLS (MÃnimos Quadrados Generalizados), considerando TIF/PIB (Total dos Investimentos dos Fundos de PensÃo como ProporÃÃo do PIB), como variÃvel dependente e PP65, EDU25, PFP, PAFP, DFP como variÃveis independentes. Os resultados para cada uma das variÃveis independentes indicam que todas sÃo estatisticamente significantes para o nÃvel de significÃncia de 0,10, bem como os sinais corroboram as hipÃteses iniciais, com exceÃÃo da variÃvel DFP. AlÃm disso, a probabilidade de rejeiÃÃo da hipÃtese verdadeira à muito baixa para as variÃveis do modelo. ConcluÃmos que a existÃncia do problema do idoso explica o crescimento dos fundos de pensÃo, sem falar do nÃvel de educaÃÃo mais elevado e um maior contingente abrangido pelos fundos de pensÃo; isto contribui decisivamente para o desenvolvimento do setor nas Unidades Federativas do Brasil. / The problem of the population aging, among others aspects, has taken a lot of countries, including Brazil, to rethink its pension systems. Inevitably, the discutions lead to the pension funds, either publics or privates. The purpouse of this study is to evaluate the size of the market of pension fund in the Federative Units of Brazil. This study was done using variables that could explain the size of the market, such as education (EDU25), the percentage of the population over 65 years (PP65), that it searchs to catch the influence of the population aging in the development of the private pensions funds; the amount of participants (PFP) and pensioners (PAFP) that they are sector parts and its respective dependents (DFP). The variable sample used for the econometrical calculations, referring to the period from 1996 to 2000, the Federative Units of Brazil, with exception of the North Regions States for the difficult to get the relative data the population above of the 65 years and the Federal District for presenting big variations of the variable in comparison to the others of the sample, resulted in 95 comments. The empirical inquiry was lead through regression analysis with data in panel, esteem for GLS (Generalized Minimums Squared) method, considering TIF/PIB (Totals investments of the Pension funds as proportion ratio of the GDP) as changeable dependent and PP65, EDU25, PFP, PAFP, DFP, as changeable independent. The results for each one of the independent variable indicate that all are statistics significant, for the level of significance 0,10, as well as the signals corroborate the first hypotheses, with exception of DFP variable. Althought, the probability of rejection of the true hypothesis is very low for the model variable. It concludes that the existence of the problem of the aged one, explains the growth of the pension funds. Moreover, the higher level of education and a biggest continent enclosed by the pension funds, will contribute decisively for the development of the sector in the Federative Units of Brazil.