Asset Allocation – Page 131
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Special Report
Diary of an Investor: Problems, problems, problems
Problems, Problems, Problems, and this time from the one area that we thought had been relatively immune from the financial chaos, namely custody. Let me be clear; our relationship with our custodian has been good. Their ability to provide standardised reporting and ancillary services is fine, and the matter-of-fact and ...
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FeaturesEdgy on equities but eager for infrastructure
In many areas Norway has carved out its own distinct path. Kjetil Houg, finance director at Oslo Pensjonsforsikring, tells Nina Röhrbein how this has helped the country’s largest local authority pension scheme to navigate the market crisis
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Features
Not an exact science
To begin at the beginning with actuarial science: it ain’t perfect. Most pension managers have probably already twigged this after years of data revisions by their appointed scheme actuary. In spite of any appearances to the contrary, actuaries are human, not divine. Yet they qualify and are consequently paid to ...
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FeaturesMinus five is the new zero
Absolute return strategies do not always produce absolute returns, and alternative investments are not always decorrelated from the mainstream. Long/short investors do not always have skill in shorting, let alone the long. Convertible arbitrageurs are not always able to arbitrage their convertibles. Leveraged strategies have seen their leverage dry up ...
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FeaturesHold or fold?
Small and mid caps have taken a beating in the market downturn. Joseph Mariathasan assesses their outlook
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FeaturesNow for the hard work
The credit crunch has finally exploded in the face of European pension funds. Georg Inderst looks at the problems this has created as investment managers make asset allocation decisions and offers potential solutions
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FeaturesHedging in practice
The focus of liability driven strategies has so far largely been on interest rate and inflation risk. Solutions to longevity risk have been slow both in creation and take-up, finds Nina Röhrbein
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Special ReportSupervision of Portugal’s market
New regulations came into force last year. Gert Verheij assesses their implementation at a challenging time for pension funds and their sponsors
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Features
Two paths to passive tactics
There are more and more ways to access passive investment strategies – in terms of fund types, approaches to benchmark replication and the range of providers. Here, Liam Kennedy looks at sampling and synthetic approaches to indexation
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FeaturesThe yoke of uncertainty
In ‘Much Ado About Nothing’, William Shakepseare describes a February face as “full of frost, of storm and cloudiness”. The turning of the year has certainly done little to lift the mood of institutional investors. After briefly warming to risky assets at the end of 2008, 2009 has begun with ...
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Features
Doing it whose way?
Frank Sinatra’s career was famously long-lived. It was also notable for a series of farewell concerts, at one of which the singer collapsed on stage. He was 78 at the time and died at 82. For DB pension funds, seeing members over 80 at annual pensioner meetings is not unusual, ...
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News
Dorset adds £30m to internal UK equity manager
[16:20 CET 26-01] UK – Dorset County Council Pension Fund has been advised to increase the assets run by its internal UK equity manager by £30m (€32m), to pull its overall UK equities portfolio back towards the strategic target allocation.
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NewsBrent to up infrastructure assets by 5%
[16:40 CET 08-01] UK – The London Borough of Brent is looking to increase its exposure to infrastructure in its £400m (€436m) local government pension scheme (LGPS).
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FeaturesInnovation: Used, misused and abused
In the third in a series of articles on a new report, Amin Rajan laments that alpha has been everywhere except in performance numbers
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Features
BVK keeps long and short strategy
The pension fund of the Canton of Zurich (BVK) has been investing in commodities since August 2006 when it decided to allocate 4% of its portfolio to commodities. Its strategic exposure consists of seven individual commodity investments in three sub-categories. At end-June 2008 a collateralised commodity index note accounted ...
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FeaturesViews on the year to come
We asked ten CIOs and other senior figures at international assset management firms: ‘Where will investment opportunities lie in 2009?’
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News
Glasgow university seeks actuarial and admin support
[16:55 CET 18-12] UK – The University of Glasgow is seeking one or more providers for actuarial and consultancy services and scheme administration and related services for its pension scheme for non-academic staff.
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NewsKensington seeks custodian and increases equities
[15:40 CET 05-12] UK – The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC) is seeking a global custodian for its £409.6m (€478.9m) local government pension fund.
