Governance and Investment of Public Pension Assets


Book Description

And key messages -- Key principles of governance and investment management -- Governance of public pension assets -- Governance structures and accountabilities -- Qualification, selection, and operation of governing bodies -- Operational policies and procedures -- Managing fiscal pressures in defined-benefit schemes -- Policy responses to turbulent financial markets -- Investment of public pension assets -- Defining the investment policy framework for public pension funds -- Managing risk for different cohorts in defined-contribution schemes -- An asset-liability approach to strategic asset allocation for pension funds -- In-house investment versus outsourcing to external investment managers -- International investments and managing the resulting currency risk -- Alternative asset classes and new investment themes.




Fiscal Frameworks and Fiscal Sustainability in the Nordics


Book Description

Public finances in the Nordics are facing great future challenges due to demographic developments. Increasing longevity is changing the age structure of the population, significantly raising the share of older people and thus the old-age dependency ratio. Over the last two decades, there has been a strong international trend to strengthen fiscal frameworks by adopting more stringent fiscal rules as well as increasing transparency and accountability. A first aim of the report is to survey and evaluate the fiscal frameworks in the Nordic countries. A second aim is to review how long-run sustainability analyses of public finances are made - and communicated to policy-makers and the general public - in the Nordics, by Ministries of Finance as well as by other institutions. The report also concludes the severity of the fiscal-sustainability problems in the Nordic countries.




Transparency in Government Operations


Book Description

Transparency in government operations is widely regarded as an important precondition for macroeconomic fiscal sustainability, good governance, and overall fiscal rectitude. Notably, the Interim Committee, at its April and September 1996 meetings, stressed the need for greater fiscal transparency. Prompted by these concerns, this paper represents a first attempt to address many of the aspects of transparency in government operations. It provides an overview of major issues in fiscal transparency and examines the IMF's role in promoting transparency in government operations.




Old-age Income Support in the 21st Century


Book Description

The past decade has brought an increasing recognition to the importance of pension systems to the economic stability of nations and the security of their aging populations. This report attempts to explain current policy thinking and update the World Bank's perspective on pension reform. This book incorporates lessons learned from recent Bank experiences and research that have significantly increased knowledge and insight regarding how best to proceed in the future. The book has a comprehensive introduction and two main parts. Part I presents the conceptual underpinnings for the Bank's thinking on pension systems and reforms, including structure of Bank lending in this area. Part II highlights key design and implementation issues where it signals areas of confidence and areas for further research and experience, and includes a section on regional reform experiences, including Latin American and Europe and Central Asia.




Expenditure Ceilings - A Survey


Book Description

This paper looks at the factors that have to be considered when designing an aggregate expenditure ceiling. It is argued that expenditure ceilings are effective in promoting fiscal discipline and sustainability, but that a number of trade-offs have to be made when setting up a fiscal framework that will survive in a politically charged environment. The paper illustrates the discussion with a case study of medium-term aggregate expenditure ceilings in three countries: Finland, the Netherlands and Sweden.




Joint Report on Pensions


Book Description

Recoge: 1. An introduction to pensions reform- 2. A decade in pension reform in the EU - 3. The impact of the crisis - 4. Policy challenges over the long-term - 5. Policy implications.




Sweden


Book Description

This paper discusses the findings of the Financial System Stability Assessment for Sweden. The Swedish financial system is large and highly interconnected, putting a premium on the accompanying policy framework. Relative to the size of the domestic economy, the financial system is among Europe’s largest. It features complex domestic and international linkages, reflecting Sweden’s role as a regional financial hub. However, the macrofinancial risks have grown since 2011, for example the rising share of highly indebted households. Stress tests also suggest that banks and nonbanks are largely resilient to solvency shocks, but concerns persist about the ability of bank models to capture unexpected losses.




The Nordic Banking Crisis


Book Description

This study examines the banking crises in Finland, Norway and Sweden, which took place in the early 1990s, and draws some policy conclusions from their experiences. One key conclusion is that factors in addition to business cycle effects explain the Nordic countries financial problems. Although the timing of the deregulation in all three countries coincided with a strongly expansionary macroeconomic momentum, the main reasons for the banking crises were the delayed policy responses, the structural characteristics of the financial systems, and the banks inadequate internal risk-management controls.