All IPE articles in September 2015 (Magazine)
View all stories from this issue.
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News
Fed may not tighten credit until next year, experts say
Analysts focus on doveish comments by US central bank
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News
UK retailer John Lewis sees pension costs rise despite deficit drop
Company says deficit has fallen by 7% over January 2015 figures
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News
NEST tenders standalone emerging market bond mandate
UK pension fund further expands standalone mandate as it seeks higher returns offered by emerging market debt
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Features
Smart questions
There are plenty of interesting questions surrounding smart beta investment in an institutional context. First, does it work? Apparently it does, as academics find more and more evidence that it pays to have passive exposure to factors such as value, low volatility and small-caps.
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Special Report
Securities Services: Tougher times for providers
Securities services providers are having to raise their game in response to demands of clients who face both increasing regulatory pressures and a low-yield environment
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Features
Prudence penalty
As we mark seven years since the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers this month, the blunt instrument of regulation still hangs over pension funds with respect to European derivatives trading
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Features
From Our Perspective: Who’s watching the watchers?
In some countries they are accused of heavy-handedness; in others they seem content to play a light-touch role. Either way, European pension regulation remains as diverse as the continent’s pension systems. The IORP II Directive, like its 2004 counterpart will be interpreted and implemented differently across the EU member states; harmonisation of regulation has not led to a harmonisation of regulators.
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Opinion Pieces
Letter from the US: A new way of thinking
Three years ago car makers Ford and General Motors opened the way to a new means of de-risking defined-benefit (DB) pension plans. They offered a lump sum to participants who were receiving benefits
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Special Report
Spain: Low incentives to save threaten pensions sustainability
Spanish tax reforms lack measures to encourage pension savings by workers and contributions by employers, raising questions about the adequacy of future benefits
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Special Report
UK: A year of implementation
This year has seen the rushed implementation of the dramatic changes introduced to the UK defined contribution sector in 2014
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Features
How we run our money: PPF
Barry Kenneth, chief investment officer at the Pension Protection Fund, tells Taha Lokhandwala about the UK’s lifeboat fund’s innovative strategies
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Special Report
Italy: Lack of long-term vision threatens to stifle growth
In giving more freedom to employees to make pension choices, lawmakers are in danger of slowing down the growth of Italy’s second pillar
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Special Report
Sweden: New government, new reforms
Plans to split the regulation of insurance and pension companies have met with controversy, while reform to the AP fund system is to move ahead following years of deliberation
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Country Report
UK Pensions Governance: The head and the heart
Trustees are at the heart of UK pension funds. Do they need to get better at what they do?
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Special Report
Iceland: Glimmers of hope
After seven years of capital and currency controls, restrictions on pension funds investing outside the country are beginning to be relaxed
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Special Report
Portugal: Focus on sustainability
Reforming the country’s public pension system is an integral part of the government’s efforts to impose fiscal stability, as agreed in its bailout programme.
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Special Report
Norway: Getting to grips with longer life expectancy
Pension providers are adapting to the challenges of people living longer and continuing low interest rates.
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Features
What can Europe do?
This year Italy will spend almost 15% of GDP on public pensions, higher than any other EU country, according to Eurostat
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Special Report
The Netherlands - Entire pensions system under scrutiny
Following a nation-wide debate, the Dutch have set out to create a new pension system that will be sustainable and fair to all generations
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Features
Diary of an Investor: Patience is a virtue
Once our half-yearly reports are out of the way, the summer months are usually a good opportunity to look through our portfolio holdings and to read up on the trends and forecasts that some of the industry’s foremost commentators are making