PensionDanmark, Industriens return to PRI after 2013 spat
All six Danish pension funds that exited the PRI six years ago have now returned as signatories in the wake of a governance review
France’s ERAFP keeps its eye on portfolio diversification
The €30bn pension fund is seeking to shift investments towards equities, private equity, real estate and infrastructure
LGPS pool targets £10bn with private markets programme
Border to Coast Pensions Partnership has launched a £500m private equity vehicle and a £675m infrastructure fund for its 12 LGPS clients
CERN gains from real estate revaluations to post 1.3% 2018 return
Northern Trust’s appointment as custodian helped address an ‘operational constraint’ in real asset investments for the scientific research institute’s pension fund
PNO Media scheme credits alts, active management for investment gains
The creative sector pension fund is the latest to see returns wiped out by currency movements due to hedging position
Local authority fund shifts £500m into low-carbon index tracker
Swansea Council’s £2.1bn pension fund wants to reduce its exposure to carbon-intensive companies and fossil fuel investments by up to 50% by 2022
Joseph Mariathasan: Markowitz, Friedman and the crucial debate on ESG
Should the interests of company shareholders trump those of all other stakeholders?
Luxembourg regulator highlights hard Brexit implications for UK firms
CSSF requires notifications from financial services firms by 15 September and a further submission by the end of October in order to keep operating through a ‘hard Brexit’ scenario
GAM completes wind-up of suspended absolute return bond funds
Investors due to receive equivalent to an “average” of 100.5% of portfolio value after a 10-month process to liquidate the CHF7.3bn fund range
Local authority fund shifts £500m into low-carbon index tracker
Swansea Council’s £2.1bn pension fund wants to reduce its exposure to carbon-intensive companies and fossil fuel investments by up to 50% by 2022
Nordea Life & Pension Sweden makes €2.1bn sustainable investment shift
Swedish pension provider says move halved the portfolio’s carbon footprint
Digital Edition
Subscribe to the digital edition of IPE magazine to view the latest issue directly in your browser.
On the record: China
We asked two pension funds to tell us about the case for investing in China and their experience with investing in the country
How we run our money: Eni
Carlo di Gennaro, head of global group pensions at Eni, tells Carlo Svaluto Moreolo how the oil and gas company is streamlining its pension strategy
China: To be or not to be
Investors are divided on whether to classify Chinese equities as a distinct asset class
Becoming a mortgage lender
More pension funds are eyeing residential mortgages as an asset class
Economic outlook: Dancing with steamrollers
Clouds are gathering for the global economy
Relative response to liquidity issues
Equity risk is a crucial portfolio exposure for pension funds and a key driver for long-term retirement outcomes for pension plans and their beneficiaries. Yet the structure of equity markets is in transition, which changes the way pension funds choose to allocate capital to them.
The Disneyworld trap
The remarkable reversal in the outlook for official interest rates over the past few months has received relatively little attention. Until recently it was widely accepted that rates could only move upwards. It looked almost certain that quantitative tightening (QT) would supplant quantitative easing (QE). Now the balance has reverted to further monetary accommodation.
Government Bonds - Euro-zone: Turning Japanese
The euro-zone appears to be in a low-growth liquidity trap redolent of Japan
Hedge Funds - Technology: The next generation
Advances in artificial technology and computing power are opening paths to new hedge funds strategies
European Equities - Auto sector: Rough road ahead
Europe’s automotive industry faces global challenges ranging from emissions standards to trade disputes and radical transformation of the industry
Animal welfare: Probing the global meat complex
Everyone knows about ‘big oil’ and how much influence the global agribusiness sector has. But there is less awareness about the negative impacts of meat producers – the ‘global meat complex’.
Guest viewpoint: Adam Matthews and John Howchin
“The Brumadinho dam tragedy causes us to question if we have created the conditions for a set of disasters”
Long-term matters: Exxon’s AGM – can investors learn from the slave trade?
English evangelical protestants allied with the Quakers initiated the campaign to abolish the UK slave trade in the early nineteenth century. Two centuries later, the Vatican has said that climate change is a “moral and religious imperative for humanity”. Will the fate of fossil fuel companies be defined by public, sovereign and religious investors? And can other investors watch from the sidelines?
Guest viewpoint: Beat Zaugg
A striking indication of ESG’s importance in Switzerland is that Ueli Maurer, the country’s president, will be the keynote speaker at the Swiss Sustainable Finance annual conference in Bern
Don’t panic (yet) about populism
When I called for investor engagement with Facebook and the social media giants, I did not expect to see a sovereign wealth fund leading such an initiative just three months later
