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Incentive Fees and Competition in Pension Funds: Evidence from a Regulatory Experiment

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  • Hamdani, Assaf
  • Kandel, Eugene
  • Mugerman, Yevgeny
  • Yafeh, Yishay

Abstract

Concerned with excessive risk-taking, regulators worldwide generally prohibit performance-based fees in pension funds. Presumably, competition can substitute for incentive pay in providing incentives for fund managers to serve their clients’ interests. Using a regulatory experiment from Israel, we compare the performance of three exogenously-given long-term savings schemes: Funds with performance-based fees, facing no competition; funds with assetsunder- management (AUM)-based fees and virtually no competition; and funds with AUM-based fees, operating in a competitive environment. Funds with performance-based fees exhibit the highest risk-adjusted returns without assuming more risk. Competitive pressure is not associated with similar outcomes, suggesting that incentives and competition are not substitutes in the retirement savings industry.

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  • Hamdani, Assaf & Kandel, Eugene & Mugerman, Yevgeny & Yafeh, Yishay, 2017. "Incentive Fees and Competition in Pension Funds: Evidence from a Regulatory Experiment," Journal of Law, Finance, and Accounting, now publishers, vol. 2(1), pages 49-86, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:now:jnllfa:108.00000015
    DOI: 10.1561/108.00000015
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Institutional Investors; Pension Funds; Incentive Fees; Defined Contribution;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G22 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Insurance; Insurance Companies; Actuarial Studies
    • G23 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Non-bank Financial Institutions; Financial Instruments; Institutional Investors
    • G3 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance

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