Columns – Page 4
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Opinion PiecesSolvency II: Rule changes can’t force risk taking
Changing the rules can often seem like a very sensible policy choice – whether a sweeping deregulatory reform or more of a technocratic adjustment to regulations.
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Opinion Pieces
Italy’s far-right government won’t bring about great changes
The largely anticipated outcome of the Italian election was a strong mandate for the centre-right coalition. This would hardly be a new scenario, were it not for the fact that this time the chosen leader is Giorgia Meloni of Fratelli d’Italia (Brothers of Italy), a right-wing party with historical links with fascism.
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Opinion Pieces
Letter from Berlin: The German way to supervise the EU Taxonomy
The German financial supervisory authority, BaFin, has chosen its own path to deal with the EU taxonomy – in particular when it comes to nuclear and gas.
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Opinion Pieces
Trustees must assess impact of rate hikes
The Bank of England (BoE) has hiked its policy rate by 50bps to 2.25%, prioritising the fight against inflation over support for growth in its domestic economy. This interest rate increase has hit levels not seen since the end of 2008 but in line with a majority of economists’ consensus.
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Opinion Pieces
Viewpoint: Irredeemably irrational – why using IRR to benchmark and pick funds makes no sense
With the continuing proliferation of managers, strategies and funds, wouldn’t it be wonderful if there was one simple metric that could help determine which to back (and which to avoid)? The good news: there is. The bad news: you’re probably not using it.
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Opinion Pieces
Viewpoint: Impact investing – socially responsible investing reimagined
Investment in support of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has more than doubled over the last two years. Yet impact investing has aroused skepticism.
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Opinion Pieces
Viewpoint: Five myths about alternative investments
Alternatives can help investors pursue their goals by being a source of new opportunities
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Opinion Pieces
Heatwaves remind us climate finance is more than net zero
In the middle of the now-famous speech that ended Stuart Kirk’s tenure as HSBC’s head of responsible investment, he said something that got lost. While most of Kirk’s controversial May presentation on ‘why investors need not worry about climate risk’ was picked apart on social media and in the press – resulting in his suspension and exit from the asset manager – his slide on climate adaptation (or ‘adaption’) was largely ignored.
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Opinion Pieces
Institutional capital for energy resilience
Ukraine’s independence day on 24 August also marked six months since the start of Russia’s invasion and with it a profound shift in the global geopolitical and economic balance.
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Opinion Pieces
Notes from Amsterdam: Reform speeds up consolidation
With each passing day the likelihood diminishes that the law on the future of pensions (Wet toekomst pensioenen) will come into force as planned on 1 January next year. The law was sent to parliament in spring this year, but a date for parliamentary discussion is yet to be set.
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Opinion Pieces
Private managers ‘not serious’ about climate
Fears about the effect of human activity from the climate date from the ancient Greeks, but it was not until the 1980s that scientists began to unite for action on climate change, and the warnings have only escalated since. Too often they have been ignored or denied.
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Opinion Pieces
Viewpoint: The realisation of private asset illiquidity risk
The divergence in performance between asset classes over the first half of 2022 has been extreme.
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Opinion Pieces
Viewpoint: New UK government taskforce signals importance of ESG
There has been substantial progress in climate-related and governance issues, but social factors, have not always received as much attention.
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Opinion Pieces
Viewpoint: Definition conundrum not a reason to ditch ESG
The difficulty of measuring ESG criteria should not be a reason to ditch the term altogether, according to the Dutch pension federation
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Opinion Pieces
Viewpoint: Trustees should treat biodiversity as important as carbon emissions
Biodiversity loss carries the same level of existential threat as carbon emissions
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Opinion Pieces
Viewpoint: Overlaps in judgement
Many investors believe markets to be cyclical and search for signs of cycles in an attempt to predict which investment styles are coming into and out of favour
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Opinion Pieces
Viewpoint: How to fix the three ‘mega-gaps’ facing the UK economy
Planting the seeds of long-term growth now by focusing on age, carbon and infrastructure is how we can ensure our economy gets back on track
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Opinion Pieces
Let’s not get carried away about ESG ratings
Elon Musk’s reaction to Tesla dropping out of the S&P ESG 500 index and the publication of a high-profile paper on the ‘Aggregate Confusion’ of ESG ratings have helped trigger a renewed discussion about ESG ratings. At a time when the European Commission and UK rule-makers weigh potential regulatory action, it is important to be clear about what the problem is that needs to be solved and for whom.
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Opinion Pieces
The cost of high fees
Asset owners’ never-ending quest for better management fees is now at its peak.
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Opinion Pieces
Norway needs another pensions overhaul
It’s official – Norway’s state pension system needs another overhaul. The Pension Commission published its hefty report in June arguing for changes to make it socially sustainable – raising age limits, pegging minimum benefits to wage growth and shielding disability pensions from the effects of life expectancy adjustment.
