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Project Louvre, as the project has been dubbed, aims to gather information about the asset allocations of institutional investors – pension funds, insurers and sovereign wealth funds – in different European countries via the professional associations of which they are members.
Participating associations will submit combined data on their members’ current and expected future asset allocation on an annualised basis within a standardised format.
The initiative is being co-ordinated by Af2i, the French institutional investor association, and Insticube, a data platform for asset owners.
Presenting the initiative, Jean-François Boulier, president of Af2i and chair of the project, said the sharing of knowledge about investors’ asset allocation offered many opportunities for the investors, their providers, and regulators.
Institutional asset owners, for example, would be able to benchmark their own asset allocations against their European peers. Boulier noted stark differences between asset owners in different countries, highlighting that in France the average allocation to real estate among institutional investors was 6%, while in Switzerland it was above 20%.
“We feel it’s interesting for institutional investors to be able to compare their own bets, beliefs, and asset allocations with others,” said Boulier.
Providers would be able to better evaluate investment opportunities while regulators could get a better grasp of institutional investors’ portfolios and better understand institutional investors’ needs and practices.
Boulier said around 10 member associations had so far agreed to participate in the initiative.