Pension funds such as the Basellandschaftliche Pensionskasse aim for the optimal return on their invested assets while as well as keeping the costs related to financing their insurance as low as possible. This requires a targeted investment strategy for which the company continuously analyses financial markets with the goal of investing their clients' money as profitably and safely as possible. The key question is whether passive or active investing makes more sense for different categories, regions, sectors, or themes. The examination of efficient markets is an important part of this paper.

Eugene Fama's efficient market hypothesis (EMH), is an essential element. It states that asset prices reflect all available information on the market. For the purpose of this paper, different geographical areas are analysed. By analysing various markets and taking into account the EMH, it is decided whether a market segment could be classified as efficient or inefficient. In a further step, both the results of the analysis and the current investment strategy are compared by taking into account secondary sources. Finally, a final recommendation for the BLPK is made.

The result of this paper will provide an in-depth analysis of which markets and more specifically which market segments still allow outperformance, so-called alphas. By analysing the different market segments in the categories Small & Mid Cap, Large Cap, Value and Growth, the study will eventually either confirm the current strategy which BLPK follows or provide recommendations in which additional areas they might find alphas or if necessary, should turn away from an active strategy. Based on the findings and suggestions, the BLPK can assess whether the current investment approach is still valid or whether adaptions should be made on the basis of the evaluation made in this paper.