REFERAT ECONOMIE: FINANCE AND ECONOMICS

label Referate autorenew 2025-09-29, 16:56 history_edu Gabriela
Just what the patient ordered.Fund managers, like doctors, like to tell their customers what is good for them investors are finally gaining the tools to answer back.COMPARED with most financial concepts, tax - exempt mutual funds seem fairly uncomplicated. They are mutual funds that invest in bonds exempt from America's income tax, such as those issued by local governments. That is not exactly brain surgery. Yet the managers of such funds appear to find this definition hard to understand. Last year, many of them chose to invest a portion of their client's money in instruments that were subject to (you guessed) income tax. Why did they do it? For their customers - of course. They were not alone. Managers of mutual funds (known as unit trusts in Britain) frequently choose to abandon their stated objectives in the scramble for higher returns. When such bets pay off, they tend to go unnoticed. Many American small - company funds, for example, have chosen recently to pour their money into big - company stocks, judging them to be a better bet. In the fourth quarter of 1996, that gamble paid off, and few complained. But when fund managers stray from their investment guidelines and guess wrong, investors are predictably outraged.Consider the plight of the Magellan Fund, flagship of the Fidelity mutual - fund group. Most of Magellan's investors thought it was an equity fund. But last year it turned out that the fund's star manager, Jeffrey Vinik, had invested heavily in bonds and cash, thereby depressing returns in a booming stock market. Mr Vinik was forced to resign, and the funds investors have been leaving in droves. In 1995, the villains were managers of American money - market funds, many of whom were caught out by Mexico's peso crisis at the end of 1994. Investors had thought their money was safely tucked away in short - term domestic paper, not peso - denominated bonds. They were not impressed.Outside America, retail investors seem content to leave decisions to fund managers, provided they can be kept honest. Raising questions of loyalty to investment objectives had been left mostly to pension funds and other institutional investors. They, like their American counterparts, are increasingly demanding that money managers do what they said they would, rather than what they feel like. The problem is one of incentives. Every mutual - fund customer wants to pursue his or her own investment strategy - depending on age, attitude towards risk and so forth - and will allocate money among different classes of funds accordingly. But within each category, investors also want to seek out the funds that have generated the best returns in the past.Fund managers, therefore, face strong pressures to increase returns. And if they think they can achieve this by straying from their stated objectives, the rarely exercise self - restraint. Never mind that their bets are as likely as not to go awry. Since today's fund managers tend to be those who have been successful in the past (whether by skill or chance), humility is a rare trait.Investors, of course, can punish wayward managers by removing their money. But except in the most publicized cases, it is hard to know how closely a manager is adhering to his guidelines. Most customers invest in variety of funds, making it time consuming to monitor each of them personally. And although several fund tracking companies publish tables which measure each fund relative to others in its class, those boundaries are notoriously fuzzy: in many cases, a fund can invest to a third of its assets outside its category without violating the guidelines.Physician, retrain thyself.Now, however, small investors are finally gaining some power, as they rely increasingly on big intermediaries to deal with fund managers on their behalf. The most influential are financial - advisory companies, which help retail investors to assess their financial needs and then allocate their money for them.Consider, for example, the approach of Linsco/Private Ledger, an advisory firm based in San Diego, Linsco sits between its customers and over 1,500 funds, advising people on which categories to invest in, and then selling them mutual funds that purport to target those categories.Since each fund is meant to be a part of a larger plan, it had better stick to what it is best at.To make sure that it does, Linsco maintains a centralized research unit that tracks each fund's behavior receive and lets it advisers know which ones are hewing most closely to their objectives. T o receive a special recommendation, funds are expected to provide Linsco's researchers with confidential information on their recent holdings. This is something they are loth to disclose, but since Linsco's advisers invest over $14 billion a year for their clients, few refuse.In America, administrators of 401(k) plans are beginning to play a similar role. These plans, which are now the main pension scheme for many workers, let the employee decide in which funds to invest his retirement savings, and force him to bear the investment risk. The employer deals with funds on its employees' behalf, deciding which to include as option and monitoring the behaviour of each fund. Since they are already passing off risk to their.Ad - spending usually plunges when economic growth slows. Will it be any different this time?WHEN the American arm of Hyundai, a South Korean carmaker, said last week that it was worried about the economy and may cancel its plans to advertise in the Super Bowl, American football's grand finale, on February 3rd, the advertising and media industries shuddered. Marketing spending is one of the first things companies decide to cut when faced with slowing sales. Suddenly a recession in ad- spending seemed imminent. In the event, Hyundai decide to stay in, but buyers and sellers of ad-space know that it is only a matter of time before someone somewhere pulls out for real.Yet, even as stock markets tumble and economies falter, some ad-men expect the knife to cut most deeply in 2009 rather than in 2008. Maurice Levy, chief executive of Publicis Groupe, a French advertising firm, reckons that despite the chance of a recession in America, 2008 will be a good year for sellers of ad-space. Three big -ticket events - championship - could add as much as 1% of additional growth to advertising expenditure, he says, which could partially offset economic weakness.Sir Martin Sorell, chief of executive of WPP, another big advertising group, acknowledges that people are anxious. But his clients are not cutting their ad budgets yet and he expects 2008 to be a reasonable year. By contrast 2009 does not have big ''quadrennial'' political or sporting events, and so could be painful. A new American president will dole out an unpleasant economic medicine immediately, ahead of the mid - term elections, says Sir Martin. That would hit 2009 too.It is just possible that advertising budgets may prove more resilient than in the past. That is because the internet has brought greater accountability to advertising. Marketing chiefs can now prove that a click on an online ad produces a sale. Firms are trying to impose the same discipline on television and other media spending.''Now when companies raise their budgets they do so more responsibly,'' says Jonathan Barnard, head forecaster at ZeinthOptimedia, a unit of Publicis, ''and they're less likely to see marketing as a frivolous expense ripe for cutting.'' In past booms, he says, money spent on advertising grew much faster than the economy, and ad-spending as a share of GDP shot up. That effect was marked in 1999 - 2000, when dotcom start- ups ploughed much of their newly raised capital straight into marketing. This had not happened today, so ad-spending may not have as far to drop.In fact forecasters disagree about advertising spending in 2008. UBS, a bank, predicts that expenditure on add will increase by 5% whereas Goldman Sachs, a rival, forecasts that it will decline by as much as 5%. Most, however, agree on one thing: underlying growth in ad spending will come mainly from emerging economies and from advertising on the internet. Emerging markets now represent one - fifth of global expenditure on advertising, and are contributing ever greater sums. The price of a- space has risen quickly in some emerging markets, such as Russia and China, and growth is slowing there. Even so, ZenithOptimedia expects developing countries will add $50 billion in new ad-spending in the next three years whereas developed markets will add only $38 billion - the first time that emerging markets have come out top over such a period.In rich countries the internet is claiming a growing share of advertising - at the expense of traditional media, such as TV and print. There is still a gap between the time people spend online as a fraction on the internet (about 7, 5%). Many companies are trying to narrow the gap, which will sustain internet advertising during a downturn. Search advertising, the most effective kind of all, should be safest.Indeed, some people say an economic slowdown is likely to accelerate the shift to the internet. Trevor Kaufman , chief executive of Schematic, an interactive agency based in Los Angeles which was recently bought by WPP, says that one of his clients, and American ''big-box'' national retailer, intends to devote more of its marketing resources to the internet as the economy slows. The internet's interactivity and wealth of product information make it the best means of generating short - term sales - whereas television is best for long - term brand - building. During a downturn clients see internet ads as easier to measure and hence easier to justify to shareholders, says Mr. Kaufman.But online advertising cannot hope to escape an ad recession altogether. The quadrennial effects of 2008 will mainly benefit television and newspapers. In addition, argues Deloitte, a consultancy, online ads face new obstacles. It points to a recent survey of American consumers which found that more than three - quarters of respondents said online ads were more annoying than those in print. Concerned about their privacy, people have started to lobby against online tracking of sales, which is a vital element of the internet's much - vaunted effectiveness.Some industries will cut ad-spending more deeply than others, says James Walker of Accenture Marketing Sciences. Many banks, hit hard by losses, have already cut back on their spending, according to media executives. Makers of cars and luxury goods and other dispensable items will be more exposed to a recession than companies that sell necessities. Bart Becht, chief executive of Reckitt Benckiser, a British consumer - goods company that makes dishwashing powder and other basic goods, says his firm is not planning to cut its media budget for this year, ''though we may advertise less on TV''.Watch this space.Din Rom in EnglFondurile de Pensii Private vor putea plasa mai multi bani in banciComisia de Supraveghere a Sistemului de Pensii Private (CSSPP) a decis sa permita fondurilor de pensii private obligatorii sa plaseze, in urmatoarele sase luni, in produse bancare, mai multi bani din sumele atrase de la participanti.Consiliul CSSPP a aprobat norma nr. 13/2008 pentru modificarea temporara a procentului maxim care poate fi investit in instrumente ale pietei monetare pentru fondurile de pensii administrate privat, a anuntat ieri, la Sinaia, la forumul de asigurari FIAR, Dan Claudian Frunzulica (foto), membru in Consiliul CSSPP.Potrivit normei, administratorul poate decide ca, pentru o perioada de 180 de zile calendaristice de la data colectarii primelor contributii la fondul de pensii pe care il administreaza, sa investeasca in instrumente ale pietei monetare, inclusiv conturi si depozite in lei la o banca, persoana juridica romana, sau la o sucursala a unei institutii de credit straine autorizate sa functioneze pe teritoriul Romaniei si care nu se afla in procedura de supraveghere speciala ori administrare speciala sau a carei autorizatie nu este retrasa, cu depasirea procentajului de 20 la suta din valoarea totala a activelor fondului de pensii, prevazut de lege.Administratorul care decide sa aplice aceste prevederi are obligatia ca, in termen de cinci zile calendaristice de la data luarii deciziei, sa notifice Comisia, inclusiv in legatura cu data la care va incepe aplicarea prevederilor, fara a mai modifica prospectul autorizat al schemei de pensii.De asemenea, in termen de cinci zile calendaristice de la data notificarii Comisiei, administratorul trebuie sa informeze participantii la fondul de pensii, prin publicarea deciziei luate in cel putin doua cotidiane de circulatie nationala, pe o perioada de cel putin trei zile consecutive, precum si prin publicarea pe pagina proprie de web.Derogarea aprobata de CSSPP are ca scop sa permita fondurilor de pensii private obligatorii sa acumuleze lichiditate in aceasta prima etapa, pentru a-si diversifica ulterior portofoliile.Potrivit lui Frunzulica, in acest an CSSPP mai lucreaza la doua legi importante - legea privind sistemul de plata a pensiilor private si legea privind infiintarea si functionarea fondului de garantare, precum si la legislatia secundara, printre care normele despre procedura retragerii autorizatiei, administrarea si supravegherea speciala, reglementarile contabile, pensia privata minima, transferul participantilor la fondurile de pensii facultative, protectia participantilor in cazul fuziunilor, externalizarea serviciilor administratorilor.