asset allocation survey european …（资产配置调查欧洲u2026）.pdf

ASSET ALLOCATION SURVEY EUROPEAN INSTITUTIONAL MARKETPLACE OVERVIEW 2013 WELCOME 2013 has so far provided investors with something of a respite from the risk-on/risk-off behaviour that has characterised markets since the onset of the financial crisis. Indeed, investor sentiment has improved to such an extent that commentators have started talking of a “great rotation” from bonds into equities (although there is scant evidence for such a shift). One of the main drivers of this improvement in sentiment seems to be an assumption that financial “tail risks” have been reduced by the explicit commitment of central bankers to “do whatever it takes” to alleviate periods of market stress. However, despite strong returns for most financial assets over the past six months or so, the global economy faces many significant challenges, and timely decision-making by policymakers remains critical both to market stability and to ensuring a sustained recovery takes hold in the developed world. Eurozone investors, in particular, are frequently reminded of the difficulties in deleveraging their economies, with Cyprus being the most recent casualty of an unsustainable financial position. Against this uncertain macroeconomic backdrop, investors are faced with the challenge of generating real returns while managing risk. Unprecedented monetary stimulus on a global scale may be necessary to nurse the developed world back to economic health, but a sustained period of negative real interest rates, or “financial repression”, presents a major headwind for investors. In response, pension plans are making use of an increasingly broad range of asset classes and tools in both the growth and matching portfolios; seeking to ensure that their strategy can be dynamic in response to changing market conditions; and expanding the range of inputs into the risk management process, often including scenario and stress test analysis. This is the 11th year of our survey and the eighth yea