LAPFF challenges bus operator over human rights
National Express challenged by local authority fund body, US union to draft ‘meaningful’ human rights policy
Wednesday people roundup
BlackRock, NAPF, Univest, Pension Fund ING, BNP Paribas, JPMAM, Mercer, Finisterre Capital, Generali, Natixis, RobecoSAM, AP4
Finland's VER turns net contributor to state budget after 6.4% return
Loss on fixed income investments offset by equities profit
Industry veteran Loek Sibbing to leave Univest Company
Former director of Unilever’s Dutch scheme looking to take on ‘new challenges’
UK roundup: Towers Watson, pension increase exchange, PPF
Consultancy predicts coming years will see increased use of PIE exercises for de-risking
UK should focus on flexible DB over collective DC, Mercer says
Consultancy urges government to focus on removal of survivors’ benefits, indexation
Institutions ready to pour $1trn into European infrastructure
Governments could miss out on ensuring growth unless they provide assets, study warns
Institutional investors favour direct ownership of real assets – Aquila
Only 43% of respondents to Aquila Capital survey currently use direct ownership
PenSam hit by deeper-than-expected 2013 loss
Bonus payouts in product changeover take toll on Danish pensions group
IPE Views: NAPF Investment Conference diary
IPE gathers a few tidbits of news from last week’s NAPF Investment Conference in Edinburgh
Central bank group warns institutional investors on forward guidance
Central bank concerns overs market reaction causing excessive risk-taking by investors – BIS
Trustee warns asset managers against passing on regulatory costs
CIO at Daily Mail schemes says asset managers need to soak regulatory expenses into margins
Digital Edition
Registered users are entitled to the first digital issue of IPE with the compliments of the IPE.com team.
Long-term relationships
How do you use consultants?
Investment therapy
René van Pommeren and Ada Wouters-Brongers of the Dutch physiotherapists’ pension fund tell Nina Röhrbein why their fund is unusual in the Netherlands
Building bridges
They do not come any more Australian than AMP Capital. Its parent company started life as a mutual insurer in Sydney in 1849, and is today headquartered in the city’s first skyscraper, which it financed, and which stands on the site of AMP co-founder and pastoralist Thomas Mort’s wool store. Its commanding views of the famous harbour are the backdrop to board and client meetings.
Bedrock of accountability
How do you deal with corporate governance?
Double bottom line
Eugene O’Callaghan, investment director of the National Pensions Reserve Fund, tells Liam Kennedy about the business plan for the new Ireland Strategic Investment Fund and progress so far in transitioning the portfolio into one with a dual mandate for returns and economic impact
Time to pool resources
Leen Preesman asks the CEOs of PGGM and PKA about their co-operation plans and about the development of supplementary pensions in Europe
Public sector challenges
Gail Moss speaks to Eva Kiwit of EAPSPI, the voice of public pensions at European level
Sky-high yield
Paul Read acknowledges that further capital appreciation in high yield is unlikely, and argues that good bottom-up analysis is now crucial for capital preservation and decent returns
Risk management under the AIFMD
Kai Braun and Désirée Springmann describe the major changes ahead for private equity and real estate fund managers
DB, DC and all that
Wasserdicht’s Dutch pension fund is one of the few that has maintained a strong solvency ratio throughout the crisis of the past few years.
Debbie Harrison Visiting professor The Pensions Institute, Cass Business School, UK
“The most important factor that determines the outcome in DC pensions is the member charge, not the investment strategy”
Lessons from Davos
Who would have thought that Davos would take over from the dormant Occupy movement on the issue on ‘inequality’? Or that five years after the crisis the financial sector would still be top of the WEF Global Risks register?
The twain shall meet
The figures speak for themselves when it comes to the development of defined contribution (DC) pension assets. Defined benefit (DB) pensions accounted for over 60% of the total assets in Towers Watson’s annual Global Pension Asset Study 10 years ago but that share is now 53% and falling; the annual growth of DC assets was 8.8% over the past 10 years compared with 5% for DB assets.
Are they taking my job?
Had anyone told me that McKinsey and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) would challenge the institutional investment system as I’ve been doing, I’d have laughed. But when tipping points are reached, paradigm change can happen fast. Coming hard on the heels of the Kay review and the UK fiduciary duty review, two insiders have acknowledged that institutional investor behaviour is harming business performance and society.
How do you colour-code that?
At Wasserdicht Pensioenfonds, some of our trustees have started to scrutinise our internal investment organisation.
Be honest about the cost
Flood protection is generally reckoned to be a sound investment, given the relatively small outlay compared with the high cost to life and property when water inundates homes, shops and factories. When the British Isles were pounded by the severest storms in living memory in February, attention naturally focused on whether budget constraints had jeopardised flood protection, and whether greater expenditure would be needed to secure communities and prevent future floods.
Why 7 February didn’t cow the bulls
When ex-Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke mentioned the possibility of ‘tapering’ the bank’s quantitative easing programme back in May 2013, the first market response was somewhat confused.
Dutch design
The long and winding road of Dutch pension reforms has reached an interesting juncture: will the country stay true to its collective DB past, or turn into DC country?
Asset allocation was key in 2013
Economic commentators in 2013 often swayed in the wind over the course of the year. Equity markets went from bull to bear, and back to bull again, as emerging markets felt the stinging chaos of capital flows, in both directions.
Cautious optimism
Of the 34 investors polled for this month’s Focus Group, 56% are confident that the world economy and financial system is over the worst. As a proportion of the poll, this is up on last year, when the split was almost 50/50. The surprise, perhaps, is that the swing has not been stronger, given the stellar performance in 2013 of developed-market equities.
Small & Mid-Cap Equities: The cycle turns
Dispersion among the top-performing European small-cap managers could split along ‘quality growth’ versus ‘quality value’, writes Martin Steward
Small & Mid-Cap Equities: Europe’s modest world-beaters
Cedric Durant des Aulnois argues that small-cap investors do not have to compromise on quality – and they can now also get it cheaper
Small & Mid-Cap Equities: Put on a smart cap
Charlotte Moore weighs up the arguments for a range of ways to access smaller companies – approaches that all agree with common sense, but not always with one another
Small & Mid-Cap Equities: Small companies, big valuations?
Joseph Mariathasan looks at small-caps around the world after a long period of outperformance, and finds plenty of reasons to believe that current valuations remain reasonable
Real estate
Institutions ready to pour $1trn into European infrastructure
Governments could miss out on ensuring growth unless they provide assets, study warns
Institutional investors favour direct ownership of real assets – Aquila
Only 43% of respondents to Aquila Capital survey currently use direct ownership
German institutionals' hands tied on risk increases, survey shows
Respondents looking for risk-management tools similar to those seen in UK, US
PensionDanmark invests €50m in Jutland office projects
Danish scheme to build new office for Alfa Laval in city of Aalborg
UK institution backs Invesco’s pan-European long-lease strategy
Fund manager acquires €80m German hotel portfolio for new client
