Read carefully the case notes overleaf. Consider the information shown in the table and the appendices.
Determine how this information can be used to address the issue of whether the company should offer pensions from smaller funds rather than just the current eight.
Then write a report to your chief executive which addresses this issue, and makes positive recommendations. Within this report ensure that you include each of the following.
(a) A graphical representation of the data and a discussion of any issues or patterns which arise from this exercise. It is for you to decide upon the exact data to use and the appropriate graph(s).
(b) Analysis and discussion which looks at the relationship between annual return and size.
(c) Analysis which makes use of the information on return variability and discussion which considers the implications of this analysis.
(d) Any other issues, problems or additional complications which you feel should be conveyed to your chief executive with respect to your analysis and recommendations.
UK Financial ServicesYou have recently been appointed Portfolio Manager for PMC Inc. PMC is a UK financial services company which offers pension advice to both individuals and small companies considering the introduction of corporate pension schemes. Note that PMC do not sell their own pensions, rather they act as 'independent' brokers.
The job description for your new post indicates that central to the role will be obtaining the 'best' possible pension for your client (i.e. individuals and companies). At present PMC only act as brokers for the eight largest pension funds.
Your chief executive has asked you to review this policy. In particular to consider whether to offer pensions from smaller funds, rather than just the current eight.
From your company's records you construct the following table which shows the average annual return generated by the eight largest pension funds over the last five years. This involved standardising each fund to eliminate the effect of additional contributions over the five year period, so that the table shows the growth associated with the portfolio investment decisions made by the fund's managers.
Rank by Pension Average Size Average Annual
Size Fund 2003-2007 Return 2003-2007
(Assets, £bn) (%)
1 Prudent A 211.5 7.5
2 MGG A 145.8 9.9
3 Legal Inc. A 142.9 9.8
4 Comment A 140.7 9.9
5 Eagle A 129.5 9.4
6 Sun A 113.8 10.0
7 Royal A 103.6 11.0
8 Friends A 94.1 12.2
In addition, your research uncovers two other useful sources of information. The first involves a research project carried out by a group of consultants which looked at the return generated by pension funds. This work used regression analysis in an attempt to explain differences in individual fund's returns by reference to size of pension fund (see Appendix I). The second shows information on average size, average return and the variance of this return over the last five years for the forty largest pension funds (see Appendix II).
Appendix I
Regression analysis undertaken by CBC Consulting.
Equations relate to average annual return and the standard deviation of this return over the five year period 1996-2000. Standard errors of the coefficients in parentheses. Based on a sample of fifty pension funds.
(i) RTN = 13.18 - 0.031 SIZE
(3.19) (0.042)
R2 = 0.67 F = 97.5 n = 50
(ii) SRTN = 2.26 - 0.004 SIZE
(0.05) (0.001)
R2 = 0.64 F = 85.3 n = 50
where,
RTN = Average annual return on individual fund
1996-2000 (%).
SRTN = Standard deviation of individual returns over
same five year period.
SIZE = Average size of pension fund 1996-2000,
assets (£ billion).