Finland

FINLAND - Finnish pension funds will be allowed to increase their equity holdings from the current limit of 25% to 35% over the next five years under a new buffer fund designed to equalise the investment risk resulting from fluctuations in share value....

FINLAND - The e8.2bn State Pension Fund returned 14.9% in 2005 on the back of strong returns from equities and fixed income.

FINLAND - The real value of earnings-related pensions could increase by 50% during the next 20 years, with the real value of pensions set to double by 2050.

FINLAND - The market risk in equity investment would in the future be borne by Finland's pension system as a whole, under a new proposal for a buffer system put forward by the Permanent Negotiating Group of the Finnish social partners.

FINLAND - Aberdeen Property Investors is launching a new open-ended property fund targeting Finnish institutional investors that will invest in a portfolio of real estate in Finland.

FINLAND - The Finnish government is considering an industry proposal that would allow pension institutions to develop their own stress tests to measure short term investment risk as part of a wider review of the investment rules in Finland.

FINLAND - The e7.5bn State Pension Fund put its 8.2% return for the first half of the year to rising equity markets, particularly in Asia and the Nordic countries and falling interest rates.

FINLAND - Kuntien Elkevakuutus, the e15.7bn Local Government Pensions Institution (LGPI), is set to revamp its investment strategy and is considering new allocations to hedge funds and commodities.

FINLAND - Regulatory pressures, which are forcing European pension funds to reduce their equity allocation and increase exposure to bonds, are having the opposite effect on Finnish pension insurance companies, which are looking to increase their equitys'...

FINLAND - The Finnish Centre for Pensions (FCP) has reported that the Finnish state pension scheme does not offer super-high pension provision, but the scheme is equitable and keeps the poverty risk of pensioners fairly low.