Section 5 - R24 - Portfolio Mgmt for Institutional Investors (Pension Funds, Endowment, Banks) Flashcards
Institutional Investors Common Characteristics (List)
- Scale (small, large, very large)
- Long Term Horizon (long, but for banks short maturity holdings) and Low Liquidity Needs
- Different Regulatory Frameworks (legal, regulatory, tax, accounting)
- Governance Frameworks (BoD, Investment Committee)
- Principal-Agent Issues (interests may be not aligned)
Investment / Implementation Approaches (List)
- Norway Model
- Endowment Model
- Canada Model
- Liability Driven (LDI) Model
Norway Model Inv. Approach (Describe)
Traditional. 60/40 Public Equities + Fixed Income. Mostly passive. Tight Tracking Errors.
Endowment Model Inv. Approach (Description and Suitability)
Yale. High level of Alternative Investments. OUTsourcing.
Suitability: Long Term, Low Liquidity, Skill in Sourcing AI
Pros: High Value-Added Potential
Cons: Expensive
Canada Model Inv. Approach (Description and Suitability)
Active Management. High level of Alternative Investments. Insourcing.
Suitability: Long Term, Low Liquidity
Pros: High Value-Added Potential
Cons: Expensive
Liability Driven Inv. Approach (Description and Suitability)
Focus on hedging liabilities and inetrest rate risk by using duration-matched FI exposure
Suitability: Banks, Insurance Companies
Pros: Recognize liabilities as part of the investment process
Cons: Longevity and Inflation may not be hedged.
Compare Items between DC and DB Pension Funds (List)
DB / DC
1. Benefit Payments (Contractual / Performance)
2. Contributions (Employer / Employee and Employer)
3. Investment Decision Making (Pension Fund / Employee)
4. Investment Risk (Employer / Employee)
5. Mortality and Longevity Risk (No risk to beneficiary / risk to beneficiary)
Pension Fund Stakeholders: Defined Benefit (List)
- Employer (Plan Sponsor: PETROS)
- Employees and Retirees (Beneficiaries)
- CIO and Investment Staff (take decisions)
- Government
- Unions
Pension Fund Stakeholders: Defined Benefit (List)
- Plan Beneficiaries
- Employer (still has fiduciary responsibility as it offers options)
- The Board (select default option)
- Government
DB Liabilities, Assumptions, Objective and Horizon (Description)
Liability: PV Future PMTs (depends: yrs of service, final salary, life expectancy). Adopts LDI in most cases.
Assumptions: (i) wage increase, (ii) expected vesting (iii) life expectancy
Main Objective: Sufficient assets to cover future benefit payments
Funded Ratio = FV Plan Assets / PV Benefit Obligation
Horizon:
- Higher Risk Tolerance
- Volatility of Contributions
- Lower Retired Portion lead to Longer IH
DC Liabilities, Horizon, Liquidity Drivers (Description)
Liability = Contribution (at sponsor level)
Horizon: Each person will be at a different life stage. If low liquidity needs, can hold larger balances in illiquid assets.
Liquidity Drivers:
- % Retired
- Age of Workforce
- Plan Funded Status (Surplus = Accepts less contributions)
- Participant Switching / Withdrawals
External Constraints on Pension Funds (List)
- Legal / Regulatory (Reporting, Transparency, Funding Requirements, Discount Rates)
- Tax and Accounting (Defined Benefit, Defined Contribution)
DB (Petros) Risk Considerations (List and Describe)
- Plan Funded Status: (Ativo - Passivo) = ↓ Funded Status = ↑ Risk Tolerance is necessary
- Sponsor Financial Strength: ↓ Financial Strength (Debt, Profitability) = ↑ Risk to Future Contributions
- Sponsor and Pension Fund Correlation = ↑ Correlation = ↓ Risk Tolerance is necessary
- Plan Design: Provisions (early retirements and lump sum distributions)
- Workforce Characteristics: older, ratio of retirement
Risk Objectives for Pension Funds (Describe)
Risk Objectives may be stated in terms of pension surplus volatility or shortfall. Also may have absolute risk objectives.
Relative Examples:
1: Funded Status > Liabilities
2: Minimize YoY Volatility of Future Contribution Payments
Return Objectives for Pension Funds (Describe)
a. In terms of Future Pension Contributions: zerar futura necessidade de contribuição
b. Pension Income: aumentar PMT de aposentadoria
Differentiate DC and DB Return Objectives (Describe)
1) DC Return Obj: Prudently grow assets to support spending needs of beneficiaries. Outperform benchmark or other DC plans.
2) DB (Petros) Return Obj: Achieve returns that adequately fund its pension obligation (exceed liabilities) on an inflation-adjusted basis.
Pension Fund Asset Classes Possibilities (List)
EFA
- Equities: Growth role, Inflation hedge
- Fixed Income: Defensive role, hedge interest rate risk. May have regulatory minimum
- Alternative Investments: Low or negative correlation with traditional
Sovereign Wealth Types (List)
BD_SRP (São José Rio Preto)
- Budget Stabilitzation Funds
- Development Funds
- Savings Funds
- Reserve Funds
- Pension Reserve Funds
Sovereign Wealth Types (Describe)
- Budget Stabilization Funds: Prevent budget from commodity volatility and external shocks.
- Development Funds: socioeconomic projects, mainly infra
- Savings Funds: share wealth across generations. Transform non-renewable assets into diversified financial assets
- Reserve Funds: Reduce negative carry costs of holding reserves
- Pension Reserve Funds: Meet future outflows (shortfalls)
Sovereign Wealth Funds Stakeholders (List)
- Government
- Citizens
- External Asset Managers
Sovereign Wealth Liabilities (Describe per type of fund)
- Budget Stabilization: Uncertain liabilities. Short IH.
- Development: Uncertain liabilities. Medium to long IH.
- Savings: Long liabilities. Long IH.
- Reserve: Liabilities are the Central Bank monetary stabilization bonds. Long IH.
- Pension Reserve: Liabilities are pension-related. Long IH.