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While Thailand’s pension system is typically described as a multipillar pension scheme, its design is highly fragmented and offers adequate coverage only to a small segment of the population, including civil servants and high-income individuals. In its 2018 Article IV report, the IMF highlighted the need for a broader pension reform, including parametric changes and ender inclusivepolicies to improve female labor force participation and attenuate the impact of aging on productivity growth. While these reforms are needed, private pensions can also play a role inimproving retirement income for individuals. As agreed with the Thai authorities, this technical note provides an assessment of the private, funded components of the pension system. A key component assessed is the voluntary provident fund scheme (PVD). The PVD scheme is voluntary and operates as a tax-incentivized scheme, which allows both employers and employees to take advantage of generous tax benefits for savings for retirement. This note also addresses the challenges of the private, funded system and proposes policy recommendations for increasing coverage, improving efficiency, and delivering sustainable retirement income in the payout phase. This note is organized as follows. The next section provides a brief description of the current overall pension system, public and private; Section III provides a diagnostic of the main challenges in the private, funded system; and Section IV provides recommendations for optimizing the design of the private, funded pension system. The focus of the note is to improve the incentive structure of the private, funded pension scheme.

In this paper, we develop a portfolio optimization method to maximize the performance of a fixed income portfolio. To achieve this aim, we define a two-step optimization problem where we firstly manage the immunization risk and then we maximize the portfolio wealth in a reward–risk framework. In the first optimization step, we create funds of bonds with constant immunization measure over time, and we propose an innovative immunization measure for bond portfolio management that leads to a more flexible immunization approach and a better trade-off between reward and risk. In the second optimization step, maximizing two performance measures on these baskets of bonds we obtain portfolio strategies that consider different investors’ profiles. An empirical application to the US fixed income market during 2002–2012 period is provided. Applying the portfolio optimization method to different bond classes, we compare the results with an equity index. This ex-post analysis indicates the benefits of the proposed portfolio strategy in outperforming the benchmark and proves that capital flows to safer markets during crisis periods.

We develop a simple cointegrated pairs trading strategy, including automatic risk control and adjustment for short-selling costs. We applied the strategy to the previously untested and highly liquid market for gilt futures. Profitability is exploited through the mean reversion in the relationship between long and medium gilt futures, and between medium and short gilt futures. Results show the potential for arbitrage profits exists, even using a relatively unsophisticated model, particularly between long and medium gilt futures.

[ES] En este trabajo se propone analizar la evolución del riesgo de los países (España, Alemania, Estados Unidos, Ucrania, etc) como objeto de inversión a través de los mercados de renta fija (Bonos, obligaciones, letras del Tesoro). Se estudiarán los factores que determinan la evolución, y tendencia de los tipos de interés de los instrumentos de renta fija de los países, comparando los mismos., [EN] The purpose of this dissertation is to analyze the evolution of the country risk as an object of investment through the fixed income markets. Factors that determinate the evolution will be studied and interest rates of the financial assets of each country also, comparing their values.

The main purpose of the Report on the Observance of Standards and Codes, Accounting and Auditing (ROSC A&A) review exercise, conducted at the request of the Government of Papua New Guinea, is to propose policy recommendations that will strengthen the institutional framework that underpins accounting and auditing practices in the country. Implementation of the policy recommendations will enhance the quality of financial reporting for corporations a key pillar that directly contributes to enhancing the business environment and the advancement of governance and financial accountability in both private and public sector entities. The ROSC A&A review for Papua New Guinea focuses on the strengths and weaknesses of the accounting and auditing environment that influence the quality of corporate financial reporting, and involves both a review of mandatory requirements and actual practices. The international standards that have been used as reference points for the preparation of this report are International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), clarified International Standards on Auditing (ISA), and international good practice in the field of accounting and auditing regulation. It is critical at this stage of development that PNG manage its resources well. The PNGLNG project shipped its first cargo in June 2014 and it is expected the LNG project to expand GDP by as much as one-quarter in 2014 and 2015, and national income by about 8 per cent. This requires significantly stepping up the quality, compliance, and enforcement of benchmark financial reporting and auditing practices. This is a key development challenge for PNG to channel this windfall revenue into investments that positively impact peoples lives.

The Securities Settlement Systems (SSS) in the People's Republic of China (PRC) are organized around three different types of markets, which are the bond market, the corporate securities market, and the futures market. The China Government Depositary and Clearing Corporation Limited (CCDC) is the SSS as well as the central securities depository (CSD) for bonds. The China Securities Depository and Clearing Corporation Limited (SD and C) is the central counterparty (CCP), SSS, as well as the CSD for all instruments traded on the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) and Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SZSE). The four futures exchanges have their own clearing and settlement departments, which offer the function of a CCP. The CCDC, SD and C, and Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE), Dalian Commodities Exchange (DCE), and Zhengzhou Commodities Exchange (ZCE) operate important securities and derivatives settlement systems both, due to the large volume and value of transactions and the fact that they support key financial sector markets (interbank bond market, stock exchanges and futures). The assessment of the bonds market-CCDC system against the Recommendations for Securities Settlement Systems (RSSS) concludes that the system observes (observed or broadly observed) thirteen of the 19 recommendations, being one not applicable. The assessment of the stock exchanges-SD and C system against the RSSS concludes that the system observes (observed or broadly observed) seventeen of the 19 recommendations. The assessment of the commodities futures markets-SHFE system against the Recommendations for Central Counterparties (RCCP) concludes that the system observes (observed or broadly observed) eleven of the 15 recommendations, being one not applicable. The present document is the assessment of securities and derivatives settlement systems in the PRC based on the recommendations of the Committee on Payment and Settlement Systems (CPSS) and the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) for RSSS and the recommendations of CPSS-IOSCO for Central Counterparties (RCCP). The paper is divided into following five parts: the first part gives general information; the second gives information and methodology used for assessment; the third part is securities and derivatives settlement systems infrastructure overview; the fourth part is main findings from the assessment with international standards; and the fifth part gives authorities' response.

The capital markets in Salvador are small and relatively underdeveloped, and have played a very limited role in the economy. On average, institutional investors invest less than 10 percent of their total assets in capital market instruments. In 2009, there were only five new issuances of corporate bonds and three in the case of equity. Banks and pension funds are the main institutional investors. The current market architecture and the natural monopoly it grants to the exchange hamper market development and prevent the modernization of the regulatory framework. There is an urgent need to overhaul of the regulatory framework to promote sound market development in the short-to-medium term. The regulatory framework should guarantee a level playing field between bonds and bank deposits, which should be reflected in the investment guidelines for institutional investors. The exchange should reposition itself to become more competitive and strategic at the local and regional level. The investment funds law should be finally approved to broaden and diversify the investor base. The importance of this reform is paramount as the current reliance on just two main institutional investors (banks and pension funds), with investment limitations (35 percent each per issue), creates a major limitation for new issuances. In the medium -to long- run, it is recommended to explore gradually integrating the individual markets at the regional level. This paper is divided into following four parts: part one gives current market situation; part two gives regulatory and supervisory framework; part three gives recommendations; and part four is reference section.

Repo markets are an essential component of liquid Government debt markets, acting as a transmission belt between money and debt markets, as well as serving to conduct key functions for the efficient operation of debt markets. These include, among others, credit risk management, funding debt portfolios, playing the yield curve, and covering short positions and settlement fails. The hybrid nature of a repo between a collateralized loan and a full transfer of ownership makes it a very versatile instrument for a broad range of market participants with very different business models. However, this is at the same time the reason for its complexity. This note addresses the legal, structural, accounting, tax, regulatory and infrastructure factors that are decisive for repo market development. The legal and infrastructure factors that underpin repo markets functionality are evolving ones and may be different depending on the country. The perspective adopted in this note intends to provide a balanced account of both the conceptual issues in each topic and relevant country cases, with the objective of providing policy makers with analytical tools to address their country specific context.