IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/jfr/ijfr11/v9y2018i3p108-116.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Nexus Between Pension Fund Size, Design and Investment Strategy: A Review of Occupational Retirement Benefits Schemes in Kenya

Author

Listed:
  • Wilson Ngugi
  • Amos Njuguna

Abstract

The funding risk borne by sponsors of defined benefit pension funds and the residual risk borne by members of defined contribution pension funds have necessitated focus on the investment strategies employed by pension funds. We use secondary data from 206 pension funds in Kenya, to determine the nexus between the investment strategy, size and design. We then validate the results using focused group discussions with industry experts. Results from the regression models indicate that larger schemes adopted a riskier investment strategies compared to their smaller counterparts. However, the investment strategies are not informed by the fund designs. Trustees of retirement benefit schemes are therefore advised to focus their investment strategies to avoid exposing the residual claimants to excessive risk.

Suggested Citation

  • Wilson Ngugi & Amos Njuguna, 2018. "Nexus Between Pension Fund Size, Design and Investment Strategy: A Review of Occupational Retirement Benefits Schemes in Kenya," International Journal of Financial Research, International Journal of Financial Research, Sciedu Press, vol. 9(3), pages 108-116, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:jfr:ijfr11:v:9:y:2018:i:3:p:108-116
    DOI: 10.5430/ijfr.v9n3p108
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciedu.ca/journal/index.php/ijfr/article/view/13905/8582
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: http://www.sciedu.ca/journal/index.php/ijfr/article/view/13905
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.5430/ijfr.v9n3p108?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Börsch-Supan, Axel & Christina Benita Wilke, 2003. "The German Public Pension System: How it Was, How it Will Be," MEA discussion paper series 03034, Munich Center for the Economics of Aging (MEA) at the Max Planck Institute for Social Law and Social Policy.
    2. J. de Dreu & J.A. Bikker, 2009. "Pension fund sophistication and investment policy," Working Papers 09-13, Utrecht School of Economics.
    3. Mr. Rene Weber & David S. Gerber, 2007. "Aging, Asset Allocation, and Costs: Evidence for the Pension Fund Industry in Switzerland," IMF Working Papers 2007/029, International Monetary Fund.
    4. Oecd, 2006. "OECD Guidelines on Pension Fund Asset Management," Financial Market Trends, OECD Publishing, vol. 2006(2), pages 171-187.
    5. Dorothee Franzen, 2010. "Managing Investment Risk in Defined Benefit Pension Funds," OECD Working Papers on Insurance and Private Pensions 38, OECD Publishing.
    6. Jacob A. Bikker & Dirk W. G. A. Broeders & David A. Hollanders & Eduard H. M. Ponds, 2012. "Pension Funds’ Asset Allocation and Participant Age: A Test of the Life-Cycle Model," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 79(3), pages 595-618, September.
    7. Deborah J. Lucas & Stephen P. Zeldes, 2009. "How Should Public Pension Plans Invest?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(2), pages 527-532, May.
    8. Alestalo, Noora & Puttonen, Vesa, 2006. "Asset allocation in Finnish pension funds," Journal of Pension Economics and Finance, Cambridge University Press, vol. 5(1), pages 27-44, March.
    9. J.A. Bikker & D.W.G.A Broeders & D. A. Hollanders & E. H.M. Ponds, 2009. "Pension funds’ asset allocation and participant age: a test of the life-cycle model," Working Papers 09-25, Utrecht School of Economics.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Laurens Defau & Lieven De Moor, 2018. "The impact of plan and sponsor characteristics on pension funds’ asset allocation and currency diversification," Journal of Asset Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 19(1), pages 27-37, January.
    2. Molenaar, R. & Ponds, E.H.M., 2011. "Risk Sharing and Individual Lifecycle Investing in Funded Collective Pensions," Other publications TiSEM b036a69d-317f-41c5-9581-f, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    3. Dirk Broeders & Paul Hilbers & David Rijsbergen & Ningli Shen, 2014. "What Drives Pension Indexation in Turbulent Times? An Empirical Examination of Dutch Pension Funds," De Economist, Springer, vol. 162(1), pages 41-70, March.
    4. Jacob A. Bikker & Dirk W. G. A. Broeders & David A. Hollanders & Eduard H. M. Ponds, 2012. "Pension Funds’ Asset Allocation and Participant Age: A Test of the Life-Cycle Model," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 79(3), pages 595-618, September.
    5. Alserda, Gosse A.G. & Dellaert, Benedict G.C. & Swinkels, Laurens & van der Lecq, Fieke S.G., 2019. "Individual pension risk preference elicitation and collective asset allocation with heterogeneity," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 206-225.
    6. José Luis Iparraguirre, 2020. "Economics and Ageing," Springer Books, Springer, number 978-3-030-29019-1, July.
    7. Karen A. Tumanyants & Eugenia V. Gulyaeva, 2016. "Individual Choice of a Pension Fund in Russia: Are the Investment Results of the Fund Important?," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 6(4), pages 1328-1337.
    8. Wilson Ngugi & Amos Njuguna & Francis Wambalaba, 2021. "The Influence of Pension Scheme Maturity on Investment Strategies of Pension Funds in Kenya," International Journal of Business and Management, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 13(10), pages 1-1, July.
    9. J.A. Bikker & T. Knaap & W.E. Romp, 2011. "Real Pension Rights as a Control Mechanism for Pension Fund Solvency," Working Papers 11-15, Utrecht School of Economics.
    10. de Dreu, Jan & Bikker, Jacob A., 2012. "Investor sophistication and risk taking," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(7), pages 2145-2156.
    11. Janko Gorter & Jacob A. Bikker, 2013. "Investment risk taking by institutional investors," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(33), pages 4629-4640, November.
    12. Scholz, Michael & Nielsen, Jens Perch & Sperlich, Stefan, 2015. "Nonparametric prediction of stock returns based on yearly data: The long-term view," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 143-155.
    13. Scholz, Michael & Sperlich, Stefan & Nielsen, Jens Perch, 2016. "Nonparametric long term prediction of stock returns with generated bond yields," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 82-96.
    14. Ioannis Kyriakou & Parastoo Mousavi & Jens Perch Nielsen & Michael Scholz, 2021. "Forecasting benchmarks of long-term stock returns via machine learning," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 297(1), pages 221-240, February.
    15. Xiaohong Huang & Ronald Mahieu, 2012. "Performance Persistence of Dutch Pension Funds," De Economist, Springer, vol. 160(1), pages 17-34, March.
    16. repec:aia:aiaswp:wp99 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Huang, X. & Mahieu, R.J., 2012. "Performance persistence of Dutch pension plans," Other publications TiSEM 3dba651c-bb31-443f-963c-4, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    18. Barbara Alemanni & Pierpaolo Uberti, 2019. "What Are Investors Afraid of? Finding the Big Bad Wolf," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 7(3), pages 1-12, July.
    19. Laurens Defau & Lieven De Moor, 2021. "The investment behaviour of pension funds in alternative assets: Interest rates and portfolio diversification," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(1), pages 1424-1434, January.
    20. Alejandro Reveiz & Carlos León & Juan Mario Laserna & Ivonne Martínez, 2008. "Recomendaciones para la modificación del régimen de pensiones obligatorias de Colombia," Revista ESPE - Ensayos sobre Política Económica, Banco de la Republica de Colombia, vol. 26(56), pages 78-113, June.
    21. Mitchell, O.S. & Piggott, J., 2016. "Workplace-Linked Pensions for an Aging Demographic," Handbook of the Economics of Population Aging, in: Piggott, John & Woodland, Alan (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Population Aging, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 865-904, Elsevier.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:jfr:ijfr11:v:9:y:2018:i:3:p:108-116. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Gina Perry (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://ijfr.sciedupress.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.