Columns
Viewpoint: Majority of DC schemes not ready for illiquid assets
But the outlook for change may be positive
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.
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.
Viewpoint: Investing after the Corona Slump
What are the facts that we know and that we can rely on when thinking about portfolio construction?
Viewpoint: Considerations around consolidation vehicles
Much of the debate around consolidation vehicles thus far has focused on the comparison between the security provided by consolidators and that provided by a traditional insurance company.
Dutch pensions: the next chapter
For those who have been following the cumbersome multi-year saga of Dutch pensions reform, the latest wrinkle might seem trivial.
Turn crisis into opportunity
One of the most striking features of the discussion of what could be called the Corona crisis – the economic and financial crisis associated with the COVID-19 pandemic – is its pervasive intellectual laziness. Far too few commentators are trying to grapple with its unique features.
Growing debt levels spell trouble
Credit investors would be wise to reflect upon the growing debt burden weighing on the global economy.
AGMs: Setting new ESG standards
As the AGM season comes to an end for another year, it is worth reflecting upon the high pressure that company boards are facing from investors to take greater account of environmental impact, diversity and executive pay – only a few issues from a long list of environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria that most investors now seem to abide by.
Viewpoint: Private debt managers mitigate risks with focus on operations
With financial markets undergoing a severe correction amid the COVID-19 crisis, Broadridge considers the impact on private debt managers.
Viewpoint: How Canada can liberate Holland once again
Ongoing concern: Putting ‘trust’ back into Dutch pensions
Viewpoint: ESG After COVID-19: Will it Be Different This Time?
COVID-19 raises questions about impacts on ESG issues like worker health and safety, and systemic risks like income inequality. While the existential threat of climate change has dominated the agenda in recent years, the pandemic has renewed focus on social and governance issues.
Letter from US: Politics forcing divestment
American pension funds have become embroiled in the cold war between the US and China and diversification strategies may be affected by the new scrutiny of investments in Chinese companies.
Letter from Australia: Paltry pickings in the political pie
As deficits mount in a post-COVID-19 world, politicians and bureaucrats are again eyeing national pension savings – hundreds of billions of dollars they can capture at the stroke of a legislative pen.
Letter from US: Investors and savers hold steady in the face of the pandemic
During the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic, many investors stayed the course and did not make drastic changes to their asset allocations or to their saving rates. That is according to the first quarter 2020 retirement analysis by Fidelity Investments of more than 30m 401(k), Individual Retirement Account (IRA) and 403(b) retirement accounts in the US. Data updated to 17 April confirm the trends.
Letter from US: Short-term relief, long-term pain
The COVID-19 pandemic is having an immediate and transparent impact on American defined contribution plans. But it also has implications for defined benefit plans in the long run
Letter from US: The Democratic agenda takes shape
“On day one, [Joe] Biden will use the full authority of the executive branch to make progress and significantly reduce emissions. Biden recognises we must go further, faster and more aggressively than ever before, by (among other things) requiring public companies to disclose climate risks and the greenhouse gas emissions in their operations and supply chains.” That is Joe Biden’s ‘Plan for a Clean Energy Revolution and Environmental Justice’ as it appears on joebiden.com, the official campaign website.
Letter from the US: Lower rates, deeper holes
Something unprecendented happened in the US in the first weeks of January when the Milliman 100 PFI discount rate fell 35bps to a 20-year low of 2.85% “It was a very poor month for defined benefit (DB) plans, not a good start of the year and it dug an even deeper hole in their financial situation,” points out Zorast Wadia, principal, consulting actuary at Milliman. He is also author of the Milliman 100 pension funding index (PFI), an annual study of the 100 largest DB pension plans sponsored by US public companies.
Book review: Radical Uncertainty by John Kay and Mervyn King
Within the terms of their own analysis, the authors of Radical Uncertainty might be remembered for a prescience they could neither possess nor aspire to
Book review: The Signs Were There - Spilling the saucerful of secrets
Tim Steer’s romp through the world of dodgy accounting practices and share price debacles is beyond shocking. He brings together his forensic examinations of publicly quoted companies’ accounts, and demonstrates clearly that “the signs were (indeed) there” in a way that induces reader incredulity.
Book review: Only the Best Will Do
Peter Seilern, the founder of Seilern Investment Management, has a reputation for investing in ‘quality growth companies.’ In reading his credo ‘Only the Best Will Do,’ you realise this career-long passion reaches almost religious dedication. Never mention ‘value investing’ in his presence.
Book review: Achieving Investment Excellence
Fix asset allocation and the numbers will follow. This rule of thumb originated from an influential study published in 1986, which showed that 93.6% of variations in a portfolio’s returns are due to asset allocation policy.
Book review: The Rise of the Working-Class Shareholder
David Webber is well placed to rehearse the legal and political arguments around public pension funds’ power to change companies
Book Review: The Economic and Financial Order
A fresh slant on risk and uncertainty
