Alternative Asset: Evidence from Moroccan Insurance and Pension Funds

The goal of this paper is to provide a critical overview of Moroccan insurance/pension fund investments in alternative assets through data analysis techniques. The results show that the risk of reserve depletion and the investment restrictions imposed by the regulator are not the real reasons why insurance companies / pension funds in our database reduce their investments in the alternative asset market. The results also show that the barriers that deter Moroccan insurance/pension funds from alternative assets are of two kinds: the first are of a general nature and concern the whole world (not just Morocco), the second type of barriers are specific to the Moroccan context.