Still, if retail executives were once reluctant to meddle with a business model that yielded healthy profits, they are beginning to see caution as riskier than change.
"As for the downside, many of these investments are riskier than traditional investments, so there's a higher chance of losing a large chunk of change.
The human resources ministry said that a number of local governments had transferred assets to the National Social Security Fund, where managers have broader latitude to invest in riskier assets, including up to 40 per cent in equities and stock funds.
This "portfolio rebalancing effect" should, in theory, spur growth by providing funds to credit-starved parts of the economy and reduce the cost of borrowing for riskier sovereigns and companies.
Western banks began lending aggressively to top-quality Asian corporates after 2008 to escape dormant European and US economies, with the result that local banks were forced to move down the credit curve and focus on riskier small and medium sized enterprises and households instead.
" One reason employees are staying put is that, after companies go public, they shift from paying in riskier private company stock options to more stable "restricted stock" which retain value better.
Many bankers see evidence of the first theory in Europe, where politicians and regulators have recently signalled a willingness to relax certain new rules, for example regarding the obligatory "ringfencing" of retail banking from riskier investment banking in the UK.
It is, however, a bit riskier for a company like Microsoft with a colossal, mature software franchise like Office, one that brings in billions of dollars in revenue a year.
The program's success or failure will depend on whether the compromises needed to gain agreement will prove minor enough not to undermine its goals — and whether they have succeeded in shocking decision makers across Europe into a belief that it is riskier to hoard money than to spend and invest it.
