Columns – Page 8
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Opinion PiecesNasty problems can be overcome
The Nobel laureate Bill Sharpe once called defined contribution (DC) decumulation the “nastiest, hardest problem in finance”.
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Opinion Pieces
Mind the reality gap
The past few months have brought huge discrepancies between the financial markets and the economy.
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Opinion Pieces
Pension funds should reflect on their true purpose
With COVID-19 infection rates rising across Europe it seems clear that lockdowns are not over yet. Europe will suffer economically as well as socially and politically.
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Opinion Pieces
No need to panic
The global economic discussion has focused on assessing what damage COVID-19-related lockdowns have caused, and more recently on questioning the speed and strength of the recovery.
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Features
Long term matters: Addressing autocratic risk
In an email interview, economist and MacArthur ‘Genius’ Fellow, Emmanuel Saez, confirmed what many investment insiders know: “Markets are notoriously bad at anticipating catastrophes.”
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Features
Guest ViewPoint: Peter Laurelli, eVestment
Comparing asset management fees across firms, strategies and regions is not a simple task. There are frequently differences, sometimes large, in what asset managers state they charge in their marketing materials, and the fees they actually negotiate during due diligence and selection processes.
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Opinion Pieces
Viewpoint: Adding to financial thinking
Peter Kraneveld applies statistical theory to COVID-19 and concludes that investors should start thinking about events that have no mean regression
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Opinion Pieces
Making a difference
“This time is different”. Such claims were rightly skewered in a well-known book by Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff. But with the benefit of recent experience it should be clear that their argument did not go far enough.
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Opinion Pieces
A long sunset on a fragile model
The ECB’s move in September 2019 to lower rates and restart corporate bond purchases was a clear red warning signal to defined benefit pension funds and other liability-driven investors.
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Opinion Pieces
The post-pandemic economy could be more of the same
There seems to be a consensus that COVID-19 will bring momentous change to the global economic order. Commentators point to several developments to support this idea.
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Opinion Pieces
Take from the young to give to the old
For many years, the Dutch pension system was considered one of the world’s best – it was top in class with Denmark in the Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index annual study last year.
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Features
Long term matters: Tales of a chance ESG investor
I didn’t intend to get a permanent job in ‘responsible investment’: my pitch for a consulting contract got misfiled in a recruitment folder and the rest really is history. Having held two good jobs in the sector, at USS and Axa Investment Management, I appreciate the 12 years I’ve spent inside the investment world.
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Features
Guest Viewpoint: The growing influence of index providers
Pension funds have shifted assets worth hundreds of billions from actively managed funds to passive funds in recent years. In doing so, they are part of an ongoing money mass-migration from high-fee active funds to low-fee index funds.
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Opinion Pieces
Viewpoint: COVID-19 and fund secondaries – how should pension schemes position themselves?
How should pension schemes best position themselves to take advantage of portfolio secondary sales opportunities? Are there lessons to be learnt from the GFC for pension schemes selling portfolio positions during COVID-19?
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Opinion Pieces
Viewpoint: Managing euro zone sovereign risk in the face of the pandemic
Considerations for pension plans and other institutional investors
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Opinion Pieces
Viewpoint: Post-COVID-19 predictions
Left and right, predictions on the post COVID-19 era are shooting by
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Opinion Pieces
Viewpoint: UK superfunds – Super fast, or dead in the water?
Will the superfund ship lawfully leave port any time soon? Following the UK pension regulator’s publication of its interim regime for superfunds in June 2020, there is much talk about scheme transfers to superfund being imminent. Clive Weber , pensions partner, and Paul Ashcroft , solicitor, Wedlake Bell LLP, explain ...
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Opinion Pieces
Viewpoint: Majority of DC schemes not ready for illiquid assets
But the outlook for change may be positive
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Opinion Pieces
Viewpoint: Returns to ESG investing - looking for the light
A fundamental question for investors is whether ESG investment involves a tradeoff, a combination of environmental philanthropy and reduced financial returns, or whether ESG investment will simply deliver the best returns to investors.
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Opinion Pieces
Viewpoint: The best things in life aren’t things
Peter Kraneveld argues that ESG and SDG investments are held up to a false standard, underestimating their real revenue and hindering solutions.
