All IPE articles in April 2011 (Magazine)
View all stories from this issue.
-
Opinion Pieces
Meet Ms Active Ageing
Pension funds will observe with interest the European Commission’s announcement goal of the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing. This is to add two years to the average EU healthy lifespan by 2020. However, achieving healthy, longer lives is not quite as straightforward as it seems.
-
Opinion Pieces
Bernhard Wiesner - Senior vice president for corporate pensions, Bosch Group
“Europe is entering a period of time of both opportunities and risks that will place the second pillar on a knife’s edge”
-
Interviews
Is climate change integrated in your portfolio?
Implementing climate change in the portfolio
-
Country Report
Germany: Where churches lead, others can only follow
Germany leads in clean energy and has a good environmental record in areas like recycling. Yet it remains a laggard in sustainable investing. Nina Röhrbein asks why
-
Features
Diary of an Investor: Whisky and cigarettes
It was a good year for Wasserdicht Pension Funds. The 2010 return for our Dutch scheme was 7.9% and although we experienced a wobble in our coverage ratio over the summer, thanks to interest rates, we are now back in safe territory.
-
Opinion Pieces
State debate hots up
The debate about US public employees’ pension benefits is hotting up, and the results will have a great impact on the pension fund industry. For the first time there is a discussion about the real costs of promises made by politicians to public sector employees and the bill to tax payers. In fact, the whole matter is extremely political, as one can see from the very different approaches of two neighbouring states, Wisconsin and Illinois.
-
Interviews
Five years on
When Peter Wilby begins our conversation by remarking on Stone Harbor Investment Partners’ imminent fifth birthday, it is as if, stepping back, he suddenly realises what a thrill ride it has been.
-
Features
Paved with good intentions
Last year, I attended the pensions Green Paper Conference in Brussels, and afterwards I happened to share a taxi to the airport with UK pensions minister Steve Webb. Apart from the fact our dyspeptic Belgian driver felt the need to fling epithets at every other car on the road while puffing on a cigarette, the journey was memorable for one other reason.
-
Features
How independent is the Old Lady?
Neil Record worries that the Bank of England’s bias towards low rates correlates with a political imperative to inflate away public and financial sector debts. So is monetary policy now controlled by Whitehall, rather than Threadneedle Street?
-
Features
Structural importance
Although not a legal necessity, committees are important to the efficient running of pension schemes. Gail Moss looks at their requirements and role
-
Features
Leader of the pack
Nina Röhrbein spoke with Giorgio Valzolgher, managing director at Laborfonds, the not-for-profit pension fund that any employee in Italy’s Trentino-South Tyrol region can join
-
Features
The L’Oréal principle
As if the IASB’s pensions project was not already bizarre enough, the 16 February 2011 meeting set the scene for one of the most bewildering exchanges between a board member and the staff yet.
-
Features
Maltese persuasion
Malta is benefiting from the trend of near-shoring in the securities services business, writes Iain Morse
-
Features
X marks the spot
The hinterland between investment grade and high yield delivers an intriguing risk profile. But Martin Steward also finds that profile changing
-
Special Report
Risk Parity: Risk parity primer
Andrew J Dudley explains how Putnam’s dynamically allocated risk parity approach balances risk contributions
-
Special ReportRisk Parity: Achieving targeted returns with an ‘All Weather’ asset allocation
Bob Prince and Paul Ross discuss the approach of Bridgewater Associates, founder of risk parity
-
Country Report
Germany: Deutschland AG adapts
The last 10 years have seen a dismantling of the ‘Deutschland AG’ network of cross shareholdings, writes Nina Röhrbein, but there is still room for improvement
-
Features
Hutton warns against ‘pick & mix’
The publication of the final report by the UK’s Independent Public Service Pensions Commission, more commonly referred to as the Hutton Report on pensions, was published in March.
-
Special Report
Longevity: Age concerns
In Europe, Germany faces the most pressure to deal with an ageing population finds Jonathan Williams
-
Special Report
Risk Parity: Case study: Alaska Permanent
When the Alaska Permanent Fund revamped its asset allocation, two risk parity specialists were among the managers selected for the new strategy. Stephanie Schwartz reports
