All IPE articles in January 2014 (Magazine)
View all stories from this issue.
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Opinion Pieces
Not ready yet
‘Retirement readiness’ is the catch phrase of 2014 in the US pension industry.
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Features
On the quiet
Activist investors are sometimes a colourful breed. One of them was the now infamous Florian Homm, who fell from grace in September 2007 in spectacular style.
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Features
Taking it one step at a time
The success or failure of Prof John Kay’s proposed investor forum hinges, unsurprisingly, on its ability to attract a critical mass of asset managers and owners to the table.
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FeaturesMeeting in the middle
The pressure is growing for pension investors to begin divesting from fossil fuel companies, Nina Röhrbein finds
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Features
Trust me, I manage money
No-one doubts that trust, ethics and integrity are central to pension and investment management.
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FeaturesWhat do you want to know?
Diary of an Investor: At Wasserdicht Pension Funds, the investment team generally gets on with the job of running the fund’s money in the way the trustees tell us to.
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Features
Large schemes warming to local investment
Dutch pension funds’ assets of €1trn were the Holy Grail for politicians and companies to plug banks’ funding gap of €478bn last year. By taking over a substantial amount of mortgage loans, pension funds could free up banks’ lending capacity and kick-start the ailing housing market and local economy.
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FeaturesRetaining interest
Torsten von Bartenwerffer points out that rising rates do not necessarily mean losses in fixed income, and argues for smarter long-only strategies rather than market-timing or long/short approaches
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FeaturesInsecurities market?
Charlotte Adlung asks whether events such as the attack on Nairobi’s Westgate shopping centre reveal risks to Africa’s compelling economic, consumer and investment stories
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Features
The journey to single EU financial legislation
The reform efforts of EU financial authorities are mostly focused on life insurance. But there are no grounds for the occupational pensions sector to rejoice – its turn will come later if regulatory plans come to pass.
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Asset Class ReportsEmerging Market Equities: Sailing into headwinds
Top-down forces have been buffeting emerging markets for some years now, exacerbated by the threat of Fed ‘tapering’ in 2013. But Joseph Mariathasan finds these forces translating into stock-market performance and portfolio strategies in complex, often unexpected ways
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Asset Class ReportsEmerging Market Equities: Wild frontiers
David Turner finds that illiquidity, political and ESG risks all conspire to put a limit on pension fund allocations to the high-growth potential of frontier markets
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FeaturesEmerging opportunities
Over three-quarters (16 respondents) of the 20 investors polled for this month’s Focus Group believe the recent underperformance of emerging-market assets has made them more attractive to their fund. According to a UK fund: “Emerging-market performance is still likely to compare favourably with developed-market performance.”
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Opinion Pieces
Opposing oil divestment
Divestment from oil companies to stop climate change will not work. But by being largely disinterested, the investment industry has given clients and NGOs nowhere else to go. So how should investors push back against divestment?
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Asset Class ReportsEmerging Market Equities: India turns a corner
Joseph Mariathasan finds that political and central bank governance could be at a positive turning point in India, as could corporate governance at company level
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FeaturesEmerging consumer policies
While the bottom of the pyramid is served by microfinance, providing finance products for the growing educated middle class is increasingly important for some investment managers, finds Nina Röhrbein
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InterviewsDrawing a virtuous circle
A number of prominent bank-owned asset managers have been put up for sale at various times since 2009 – a process that has not always been straightforward for the banks or the asset managers. Pioneer Investments’ proposed sale by its parent Unicredit was finally called off in April 2011, which allowed it to focus on a new set of strategic priorities.
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Opinion Pieces
Nitin Mehta, CFA Managing director, EMEA, CFA Institute
“Over recent decades, secular shifts in values have resulted in too much emphasis on profits and not enough on professionalism”
