Global institutional investors

The Committee on the Global Financial System hosted by the BIS recently published a paper on "Institutional investors, savings and asset allocation". This paper tries to assess the impact of ongoing regulatory and accounting changes on the behaviour of institutional investors, whose assets under management are seen as rapidly catching up with those of the banking system, therefore warranting central banks' interest with a view to the stability of the financial system. The impact of regulatory changes on market rates and asset prices is another important consideration. The report's main theme is the ongoing transfer of risk from institutional balance sheets to the household segment.

Two side notes on Swiss pension funds: Available information about their assets & allocation is two years older than other countries', and their equity exposure is considerably below average.