Dutch pension asset manager APG's head of asset liability management has said that pension funds cannot forsake low-yielding, safe-haven sovereign bond investments entirely, despite their return often being outstripped by inflation.
Onno Steenbeek also warned against the "real threat" of longevity increases and lamented that actuaries had never been able to overestimate potential increases in life expectancy of pension fund members. Steenbeek said the "big issue" facing the industry was how it could continue investing in either Dutch or German government bonds with historically low yields.
Robert Brown, chairman of Towers Watson's global investment committee, noted that the consultancy had been wary of parts of the fixed income market for some time. "You are not getting paid the return premium you should expect to get paid for the market", he said. "That's not to say we think there will be a bond market crash in the next year. However, we do think bonds look very unattractive on a 3-4 year horizon."
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